Visiting place identification device and visiting place identification method

ABSTRACT

The present invention includes: a current position determination unit ( 101 ) that determines a current position of a user; a facility candidate search unit ( 103 A) that specifies, as a candidate for a visited place, a facility that is located within a predetermined area including the current position determined by the current position determination unit ( 101 ); an electronic money unit ( 108 ) and a payment amount calculation unit ( 104 ) that detect a payment amount of the user; and a most-likely visited facility identification unit ( 105 A) that identifies a most-likely visited place by selecting from a plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the payment amount detected by the electronic money unit ( 108 ) and the payment amount calculation unit ( 104 ), when the plurality of facilities are specified by the facility candidate search unit ( 103 A).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method foridentifying a place where a user has visited.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, various mobile terminals have been utilized. Thesemobile terminals include a vehicle navigation apparatus that determinesa user's position using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and guidesthe user to a destination, a portable telephone that provides a userwith information regarding facilities in the vicinity of a user'scurrent position using a positioning system with a base station, and thelike.

Under such circumstances, technologies have been proposed for modelingthe user's behavior and travel patterns, using a history of the positioninformation obtained by such mobile terminals (for example, refer toJapanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 11-149596 publication, FIG.1).

The above patent document discloses that a vehicle-equipped informationapparatus accumulates beforehand time-series information regarding adriver's driving history (such as visited places) determined by the GPSpositioning, then presumes a place to which the user is supposed to get(a destination) based on the accumulated information, and provides theuser with a name of the destination, an estimated time required to getthere, and the like.

Besides the above patent document, another technology discloses that itdetermines a user's visiting place using a base station which a user'scarrying PHS or portable telephone makes contact with, accumulatestime-series information of the visited places, then presumes a likelydestination of the user based on the accumulated information, andprovides the user with information regarding the destination.

However, there is a problem: The base station of the portable telephoneor PHS suffers from a positional error of several dozen meters even withthe best accuracy for determining the visiting place so that it cannotpinpoint a specific facility where the user is visiting although it candetermine an area in which the facility exists.

In the above patent document, the GPS accuracy is several meters so thatthe technology enables to determine the user's position more accuratethan the technology using the portable telephone and PHS with the basestation does. However, the problem still remains that it cannot pinpointwhich facility the user is visiting, when the user visits a shoppingmall that packs a plurality of facilities or a multi-tenant buildingthat accommodates a plurality of independent shops.

Thus, the conventional mobile terminals cannot determine a user'svisiting place with high accuracy so that it is impossible to model theuser's behavior patterns, let alone presume the user's destination.

The present invention addresses the above problem and provides anapparatus and method for identifying a visited place in order toidentify with high accuracy where the user has exactly visited.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The present invention accomplishes the above object by providing avisited-place identification apparatus for identifying a visited placeof a user, including: a position determination unit operable todetermine a position of the user; a candidate specification unitoperable to specify, as a candidate for the visited place, a facilitythat is located within a predetermined area including the positiondetermined by the position determination unit; a behavior detection unitoperable to detect a behavior of the user; and a most-likely facilityidentification unit operable to identify a most-likely visited place byselecting from a plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to thebehavior detected by the behavior detection unit, when the plurality offacilities are specified by the candidate specification unit. Forexample, the behavior detection unit is operable to detect a paymentamount that the user has paid at the facility, and the most-likelyfacility identification unit is operable to identify the most-likelyvisited place by selecting from the plurality of facilities a facilitycorresponding to the payment amount detected by the behavior detectionunit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by the candidatespecification unit. Alternatively, the behavior detection unit isoperable to detect stay time that is a time period the user spent at afacility, and the most-likely facility identification unit is operableto select, from the plurality of facilities, a facility corresponding tothe stay time detected by the behavior detection unit, when theplurality of facilities are specified by the candidate specificationunit.

Accordingly, the candidate specification unit chooses candidates for thevisited place of the user, based on the position of the user determinedby the position determination unit, and a facility corresponding thebehavior detected by the behavior detection unit is identified as themost-likely visited place from a plurality of facilities when theplurality of facilities are chosen as the candidates so that it ispossible to identify with high accuracy the user's visited place. Forexample, when the user visits a shopping mall that packs a plurality offacilities, a multi-tenant building that accommodates a plurality ofindependent shops, or the like, it is difficult to identify, based ononly a user's current position determined by the GPS and the like, whichfacility the user has visited. However, it is possible even in such acase to identify accurately the visited facility, by detecting user'sbehavior, such as a payment amount and a stay time of the user.

Here, the visited-place identification apparatus may include a storageunit having an area for storing the information of facility identifiedby the most-likely facility identification unit, wherein the most-likelyfacility identification unit is operable to cause the storage unit tostore, as a history, information of the facility that is identified asthe most-likely visited place.

Accordingly, the storage unit stores the information of the identifiedvisited place as a history, which enables to learn accurately the user'sbehavior patterns, so that it is possible to provide the user withuseful information by presuming future behaviors of the user.

Further, the candidate specification unit may include: a facilityinformation storage unit operable to previously store identificationinformation for identifying the plurality of facilities, facilityposition information indicating positions of the respective facilities,and payment amount information regarding the payment amounts that arepaid at the respective facilities; and a candidate extraction unitoperable to search the facilities whose information are stored in thefacility information storage unit for the facility whose positionindicated in the facility position information is within thepredetermined area including the position determined by the positiondetermination unit, and to extract the identification information andthe payment amount information of the searched facility, and themost-likely facility identification unit may be operable to select theidentification information of the facility whose payment amountinformation corresponds to the payment amount detected by the behaviordetection unit, when the identification information and the paymentamount information regarding a plurality of facilities are extracted bythe candidate extraction unit.

Accordingly, the candidate specification unit extracts theidentification information and the payment amount information of theplurality of facilities, so that, even when the plurality of facilitiesare chosen as the candidates, the most-likely facility identificationunit selects identification information of a facility corresponding tothe payment amount of the user, which enables to identify with highaccuracy the user's visited facility according to the user's paymentbehavior at each facility.

Still further, the candidate specification unit may include: a facilityinformation storage unit operable to previously store identificationinformation for identifying the plurality of facilities, facilityposition information indicating positions of the respective facilities,and categories of the respective facilities; and a candidate extractionunit operable to search the facilities whose information are stored inthe facility information storage unit for the facility whose positionindicated by the facility position information is within a predeterminedarea including the position determined by the position determinationunit, and to extract the identification information and the category ofthe searched facility, and the most-likely facility identification unitmay include: a category storage unit operable to previously store thecategories of the plurality of facilities and category payment amountinformation regarding payment amounts that are paid at facilitiesbelonging to the respective categories; a category extraction unitoperable to extract, from the categories stored by the category storageunit, a category whose category payment amount information correspondsto the payment amount detected by the behavior detection unit; and aselection unit operable to select the identification information of afacility whose category corresponds to the category extracted by thecategory extraction unit, when the identification information and thecategories of a plurality of facilities are extracted by the candidateextraction unit.

Accordingly, the candidate specification unit extracts theidentification information and the categories of the plurality offacilities, so that, even when the plurality of facilities are chosen asthe candidates, the most-likely facility identification unit selectsidentification information of a category corresponding to the paymentamount of the user, which enables to identify with high accuracy, basedon the category of the facility, the user's visited facility accordingto the user's payment behavior at each facility.

Here, the candidate specification unit may include: a facilityinformation storage unit operable to previously store identificationinformation for identifying the plurality of facilities, facilityposition information indicating positions of the respective facilities,and stay time information regarding stay time at the respectivefacilities; and a candidate extraction unit operable to search thefacilities whose information are stored in the facility informationstorage unit for a facility whose position indicated in the facilityposition information is within a predetermined area including theposition determined by the position determination unit, and to extractthe identification information and the stay time information of thesearched facility, and the most-likely facility identification unit maybe operable to select the identification information of a facility whosestay time information corresponds to the stay time detected by thebehavior detection unit, when the identification information and thestay time information of a plurality of facilities are extracted by thecandidate extraction unit.

Accordingly, the candidate specification unit extracts theidentification information and the stay time information of theplurality of facilities, so that, even when the plurality of facilitiesare chosen as the candidates, the most-likely facility identificationunit selects identification information of a facility corresponding tothe stay time of the user, which enables to identify with high accuracythe user's visited facility according to the user's stay behavior ateach facility.

Still further, the candidate specification unit may include: a facilityinformation storage unit operable to previously store identificationinformation for identifying the plurality of facilities, facilityposition information indicating positions of the respective facilities,and categories of the respective facilities; and a candidate extractionunit operable to search the facilities whose information are stored inthe facility information storage unit for a facility whose positionindicated in the facility position information is within a predeterminedarea including the position determined by the position determinationunit, and to extract the identification information and the category ofthe searched facility, and the most-likely facility identification unitmay include: a category storage unit operable to previously store thecategories of the plurality of facilities and category stay informationregarding stay time at facilities belonging to the respectivecategories; a category extraction unit operable to extract, from thecategories stored by the category storage unit, a category whosecategory stay information corresponds to the stay time detected by thebehavior detection unit; and a selection unit operable to select theidentification information of a facility whose category corresponds tothe category extracted by the category extraction unit, when theidentification information and the categories of a plurality offacilities are extracted by the candidate extraction unit.

Accordingly, the candidate specification unit extracts theidentification information and the categories of the plurality offacilities, so that, even when the plurality of facilities are chosen asthe candidates, the most-likely facility identification unit selectsidentification information of a category corresponding to the stay timeof the user, which enables to identify with high accuracy, based on thecategory of the facility, the user's visited facility according to theuser's stay behavior at each facility.

Furthermore, the present invention provides a method for identifying avisited place or a program for executing the above visited-placeidentifying apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram that depicts details of facility information storedin a facility database according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that depicts details of facility candidateinformation which is notified to a most-likely visited facilityidentification unit by a facility candidate search unit according to thefirst embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram that depicts details of historical data stored in anidentified-facility accumulation unit according to the first embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram that depicts details of facility information storedin a facility database according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram that depicts details of facility candidateinformation which is notified to a most-likely visited facilityidentification unit by a facility candidate search unit according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram that depicts details of historical data stored in anidentified-facility accumulation unit according to the second embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the third embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 is a diagram that depicts details of facility information storedin a facility database according to the third embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram that depicts details of category payment amountinformation stored in a facility payment amount storage unit accordingto the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a diagram that depicts details of facility candidateinformation which is notified to a most-likely visited facilityidentification unit by a facility candidate search unit according to thethird embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the third embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram that depicts details of category stay informationstored in a facility stay time storage unit according to the fourthembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a diagram that depicts details of facility candidateinformation which is notified to a most-likely visited facilityidentification unit by a facility candidate search unit according to thefourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a positional relationship among facilities.

FIG. 22 is a diagram that depicts details of facility informationaccording to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of methods foridentifying a most-likely visited facility by a facility identificationunit according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example ofmethods for identifying the most-likely visited facility by the facilityidentification unit according to the fifth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a further example ofmethods for identifying the most-likely visited facility by the facilityidentification unit according to the fifth embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example foridentifying a visited facility based on a user's travel direction by thevisited-place identification apparatus of the first variation accordingto the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example foridentifying the visited facility based on a path of travel by thevisited-place identification apparatus of the second variation accordingto the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 29 is a diagram that depicts details of information of requiredtime in the second variation according to the fifth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a timingwhen the visited-place identification apparatus notifies the user of amessage in the second variation according to the fifth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus in the third variation according to the fifthembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 is a diagram that depicts an example of details of advertisementinformation displayed by an information display unit in the thirdvariation according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating how a vehicle park determination unitobtains parking lot position information in the fourth variationaccording to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a gate that opens andcloses depending on an existence of a portable terminal in the fifthvariation according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram illustrating how a GPS receiving unitfails to receive position information according to the sixth embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 37 is a diagram that depicts details of facility informationaccording to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 38 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the sixth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating the visited-place identificationapparatus and user's belongings according to the sixth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in the user'sbelongings according to the sixth embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION First Embodiment

The following describes the first embodiment according to the presentinvention with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the firstembodiment identifies a user's visited facility with high accuracy, andthen accumulates a history of such identified visited facilities. Thevisited-place identification apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit107, a current position determination unit 101, a facility database102A, a facility candidate search unit 103A, an electronic money unit108, a payment amount calculation unit 104, a most-likely visitedfacility identification unit 105A, a clock unit 109 and anidentified-facility accumulation unit 106A. Note that the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the first embodiment is embeddedin portable terminals, such as a portable telephone, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA), and the like, and carried by the user.

The GPS receiving unit 107 receives position information regarding acurrent position from the GPS satellites.

The current position determination unit 101 obtains the positioninformation from the GPS receiving unit 107, and determines, based onthe position information, a current position of the visited-placeidentification apparatus, which is a user's current position.

The facility database 102A stores beforehand facility information 12 athat indicates a position, an average payment amount, and the like foreach facility.

The facility candidate search unit 103A searches, based on the currentposition determined by the current position determination unit 101, thefacility information 12 a stored in the facility database 102A forfacilities that are located within a predetermined area measured fromthe current position as its center. The above predetermined area isassumed to have been set with an appropriate value according topositioning accuracy of the GPS. The facility candidate search unit 103Aretrieves, from the facility information 12 a, information such as anaverage payment amount for the searched facilities, and notifies themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105A of the facilitycandidate information 13 a indicating the retrieved results.

In summary, the facility candidate search unit 103A chooses candidatesfor a user's visited facility using the GPS positioning, and outputs theresults as the facility candidate information 13 a.

The electronic money unit 108 includes a function serving as a so-calledprepaid card that is used to make a payment at a railway ticket gate ora convenience store, and another function notifying the payment amountcalculation unit 104 of remaining amounts before and after the paymentwhen the remaining amount is changed.

More specifically, the user has deposited beforehand a predeterminedamount of money, and the electronic money unit 108 stores the amount asthe remaining amount. Then, when the user makes a payment at a facilitysuch as a shop, the electronic money unit 108, communicating with a POSterminal equipped in the shop, updates the remaining amount bysubtracting an amount of the payment from the stored remaining amount,and notifies the payment amount calculation unit 104 of the remainingamounts before and after the update. Note that the remaining amounts arestored and updated using a principle of electromagnetic induction, forexample.

The payment amount calculation unit 104 determines, based on theremaining amounts before and after the update which are notified by theelectronic money unit 108, whether or not the user has made a payment.More specifically, if the remaining amount after the update is less thanthe remaining amount before the update, then the payment amountcalculation unit 104 determines that the user has made a payment, andcalculates an amount of the payment=[the remaining amount before theupdate]−[the remaining amount after the update]. If the remaining amountafter the update is more than the remaining amount before the update, asa result of a user's further deposit, the payment amount calculationunit 104 determines that the user has not made a payment.

The clock unit 109 times a current time (date and time including day,month, and year) and notifies it to the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105A.

When a plurality of facilities are chosen as candidates in the facilitycandidate information 13 a that is notified by the facility candidatesearch unit 103A, the most-likely visited facility identification unit105A selects, from those facilities, a facility corresponding to thecurrent time notified by the clock unit 109 and the payment amountcalculated by the payment amount calculation unit 104, and determinesthe facility as a facility where the user has actually visited. Insummary, the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Aidentifies as a visited facility a facility corresponding to the moneyamount and the date and time (payment date and time) of the user'spayment, from the facility candidates indicated in the facilitycandidate information 13 a.

The identified-facility accumulation unit 106A stores in time series, ashistorical data 16 a, the facility (visited facility) identified by themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105A, under the controlof the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105A.

FIG. 2 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility information 12a stored in the facility database 102A.

The facility information 12 a includes: a position field A1 that storesa position indicated by longitude and latitude, or the like; anidentifier field A2 that stores an identifier of a facility that islocated at the position; a facility name field A3 that stores a name ofthe facility (facility name); a morning payment amount field A4 thatstores a user's average payment amount at a facility in the morning (forexample, from 5:00 until 11:00); an afternoon payment amount field A6that stores a user's average payment amount at a facility in theafternoon (for example, from 11:00 until 17:00); and a night paymentamount field A5 that stores a user's average payment amount at afacility at night (for example, from 17:00 until 5:00).

Note that the identifier is assigned to each facility in order touniquely identify the facility. Also note that the average paymentamount refers to an average of money amounts that general users havespent at each facility (so-called an average sales per customer).

For example, the position field A1 stores positions “LAT:1 N/LNG:1 E”,“LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”, and the like, the identifier field A2 stores anidentifier “Facility 2” associated with the position “LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”,and the facility name field A3 stores a facility name “Legalo'sRestaurante” associated with the identifier “Facility 2”. Further, themorning payment amount field A4 stores “600 yen” as a user's averagepayment amount in the morning at the facility “Legalo's Restaurante”,the afternoon payment amount field A5 stores “900 yen” as a user'saverage payment amount in the afternoon at the facility “Legalo'sRestaurante”, and the night payment amount field A6 stores “1500 yen” asa user's average payment amount at night at the facility “Legalo'sRestaurante”.

Note that when a building accommodates a plurality of facilities(shops), the identifiers, names and the like of these facilities areassociated with the same position.

For example, when a building at a position “LAT:3 N/LNG:3 E”accommodates facilities “Bos Berger”, “Citi Cinema” and “ConveniP-Mart”,the identifiers, facility names and average payment amounts regardingthose facilities are associated with the position “LAT:3 N/LNG:3 E” asshown in the facility information 12 a of FIG. 2.

Furthermore, when a facility does not provide service because it isclosed during its closing hours or other reasons, informationrepresenting that an average payment amount is not identified (forexample, a dash “-” shown in FIG. 2) is stored, in association with atime period during which the service is not provided, into the paymentamount field in the facility information 12 a.

While the facility information 12 a shown in FIG. 2 has been describedto store the average payment amounts per a user for the time periods ofa day divided into morning, afternoon and night, but it should beappreciated that, based on sales data of each facility, the facilityinformation 12 a may store the amounts for further segmented timeperiods (early morning, morning, afternoon, evening, night, midnight,and the like) or for each day of a week. Moreover, instead of averagingthe payment amounts in order to indicate the payment amount information,it should be appreciated that it is also possible to indicate theinformation by setting maximum and minimum payment amounts, bydispersing as well as averaging the payment amounts to learn theirstatistical distribution, or by using a membership function of fuzzylogic.

FIG. 3 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility candidateinformation 13 a which is notified to the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105A by the facility candidate search unit 103A.

The facility candidate information 13 a includes: an identifier field B1that stores identifiers of the facilities searched in the facilitycandidate search unit 103A; a facility name field B2 that storesfacility names of the facilities; a morning payment amount field B3 thatstores user's average payment amounts at respective facilities in themorning; and an afternoon payment amount field B4 that stores user'saverage payment amounts at respective facilities in the afternoon; and anight payment amount field B5 that stores user's average payment amountsat respective facilities at night.

For example, the facility candidate search unit 103A searches, based onthe current position determined by the current position determinationunit 101, the facility information 12 a shown in FIG. 2 for facilitiesthat are located within an area corresponding to positions “LAT:2N/LNG:2 E” and “LAT:3 N/LNG:3 E”, and retrieves information regardingfacilities “Legalo's Restaurante”, “Bos Berger” and “Citi Cinema” fromthe facility information 12 a. The facility candidate search unit 103Athen creates the facility candidate information 13 a shown in FIG. 3 bystoring the retrieved facility information as follows: identifiers intothe identifier field B1; facility names into the facility name field B2;average payment amounts in the morning into the morning payment amountfield B3; average payment amounts in the afternoon into the afternoonpayment amount field B4; and average payment amounts at night into thenight payment amount field B5.

FIG. 4 is a diagram that depicts details of the historical data 16 astored in the identified-facility accumulation unit 106A.

The historical data 16 a includes: a date/time field C1 that stores adate and time when the user has made a payment; a money amount field C2that stores an amount of the payment at that date and time; and anidentifier field C3 that stores an identifier of the facility where thepayment has been made.

For example, the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Athat has obtained the facility candidate information 13 a shown in FIG.3 from the facility candidate search unit 103A, receives from thepayment amount calculation unit 104 a notice indicating that a moneyamount “250 yen” has been paid, further receives from the clock unit 109a notice indicating that a payment date and time is “Apr. 6, 2003 7:00”in order to determine, based on the date and time, that such payment hasbeen made in the morning. The most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105A then searches facilities “Legalo'sRestaurante”, “Bos Berger”, “Citi Cinema” and “ConveniP-Mart” indicatedin the facility candidate information 13 a for a facility whose averagepayment amount in the morning is included in a predetermined range ofamount calculated using “250 yen”, and identifies the facility“ConveniP-Mart” as a visited facility. Note that the above predeterminedrange is, for example, ±20% from the payment amount, which is “between200 and 300 yen” in this case.

When the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Aidentifies a plurality of facilities whose average payment amounts areincluded in a predetermined range of amount calculated using the paymentamount, the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Aidentifies from these facilities, as a visited facility, the mostmatching facility whose average payment amount is the closest to thepayment amount.

After identifying the visited facility, the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105A adds a date and time “Apr. 6, 2003 7:00” to thedate/time field C1 in the historical data 16 a, and further adds thepayment amount “250 yen” to the money amount field C2 in associationwith the date and time, and stores an identifier “Facility 5” of theidentified facility “ConveniP-Mart” into the identifier field C3 inassociation with the payment amount as well as the payment date andtime. This means that the most-likely visited facility identificationunit 105A records the information regarding the identified visitedfacility in time series in the historical data 16 a.

If the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105A determinesthat there is no such a facility whose average payment amount isincluded in a predetermined range of amount calculated using the paymentamount after searching the facilities indicating in the facilitycandidate information 13 a, then stores a predetermined identifierrepresenting that no visited facility is identified (for example,“Facility 0”) into the identifier field C3 of the historical data 16 a.

As described in the first embodiment, a facility corresponding to amoney amount as well as a date and time of a user's payment isidentified as a visited facility from several facilities chosen ascandidates using the GPS so that it is possible to identify a user'svisited place with high accuracy. For example, when the user visits ashopping mall that packs a plurality of facilities, a multi-tenantbuilding that accommodates a plurality of independent shops, or thelike, it is difficult to identify, based on only a user's currentposition determined by the GPS and the like, which facility the user hasvisited. However it is possible even in such a case to identifyaccurately the visited facility, by the electronic money unit 108 andthe payment amount calculation unit 104 detecting payment behavior ofthe user. Furthermore, the first embodiment enables to accurately learnuser's behavior patterns using the historical data 16 a, becauseidentified visited facilities have been stored in the historical data 16a. As a result, the first embodiment enables to presume a user's futurebehavior and provide the user with useful information such asinformation of facilities at the destination.

The following describes steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the first embodiment withreference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that depicts the steps performed in thevisited-place identification apparatus according to the firstembodiment.

Firstly, the visited-place identification apparatus receives positioninformation from the GPS satellites at predetermined time intervals, anddetermines a user's current position based on the position information(Step S101).

Next, the visited-place identification apparatus extracts as a visitedfacility candidate, from the facility information 12 a in the facilitydatabase 102A, facilities that are located within a predetermined areameasured from the current position identified at Step S101 as its center(Step S102).

At this stage, the visited-place identification apparatus determineswhether or not a remaining amount of money has been updated (Step S103).If the determination is made that the remaining amount of money has beenupdated (Y at Step S103), then the visited-place identificationapparatus further determines, based on the update, whether or not theuser has made a payment (Step S104). On the other hand, if thedetermination is made that the remaining amount of money has not beenupdated (N at Step S103), then the visited-place identificationapparatus repeats the steps from Step S101.

If the determination is made that the user has made a payment at StepS104 (Y at Step S104), then the visited-place identification apparatuscalculates how much the user has paid (Step S105). For example, whenremaining amounts before and after the payment are {3000, 2180}respectively, a payment amount is calculated as 820 yen=3000-2180. Onthe other hand, if the determination is made that the user has not madeany payment at Step S104 (N at Step S104), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus repeats the steps from Step 5101.

After calculating the payment amount at Step 5105, the visited-placeidentification apparatus compares average payment amounts correspondingto the payment date and time of the respective visited facilitycandidates searched at Step S102 and the calculated payment amount, anddetermines whether or not there is, from those visited facilitycandidates, a facility whose average payment amount is included in apredetermined range of amount calculated using the payment amount (StepS106).

For example, in the case where a predetermined range is set as ±20% fromthe payment amount, a predetermined range calculated using the paymentamount “820 yen” is between 656 yen and 984 yen. In such a case, whenthe user makes a payment in the afternoon, the visited-placeidentification apparatus determines, from the visited facilitycandidates in the facility candidate information 13 a shown in FIG. 3,facilities “Legalo's Restaurante” and “Bos Berger” as the facilitieswhose average payment amounts are included in a predetermined range ofamount calculated using the payment amount.

At Step 106, if the determination is made that there is a facility whoseaverage payment amount is included in a predetermined range of amountcalculated using the payment amount (Y at Step S106), then thevisited-place identification apparatus identifies the facility as auser's visited facility, and stores an identifier of the facility inassociation with the payment amount as well as the payment date and time(Step S107). When the visited-place identification apparatus determinesthat there are a plurality of such facilities, it identifies a facilitywhose average payment amount is the closest to the payment amount, as avisited facility, and stores an identifier of the facility. For example,in the above case, the visited-place identification apparatusidentifies, from facilities “Legalo's Restaurante” and “Bos Bergers”,the facility “Bos Berger” whose average payment amount is the closest tothe payment amount, and stores an identifier “Facility 3” of thefacility in association with the payment amount as well as the paymentdate and time

On the other hand, if the determination is made that there is nofacility whose average payment amount is included in a predeterminedrange of amount calculated using the payment amount at Step S106 (N atStep S106), then the visited-place identification apparatus stores apredetermined identifier, for example “Facility 0”, representing that novisited facility is identified, in association with the payment amountas well as the payment date and time (Step S108).

Second Embodiment

The following describes the second embodiment according to the presentinvention with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the secondembodiment identifies a user's visited facility with high accuracy, andaccumulates a history of such identified visited facilities. Thevisited-place identification apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit107, a current position determination unit 101, a facility database102B, a facility candidate search unit 103B, a stay determination unit201, a stay time calculation unit 202, a most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105B, a clock unit 109 and an identified-facilityaccumulation unit 106B. Note that the visited-place identificationapparatus according to the second embodiment is embedded in portableterminals, such as a portable telephone and a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), and on mobile terminals using a vehicular navigation system, forexample, and then carried by the user.

In the second embodiment, the same components are designated by the samereference numerals in the first embodiment, and their structures andfunctions are the same as described above.

The facility database 102B stores beforehand facility information 12 bthat indicates a position, an average stay time, and the like for eachfacility.

The facility candidate search unit 103B searches the facilityinformation 12 b stored in the facility database 102B, based on acurrent position determined by the current position determination unit101, for a facility that is located within a predetermined area measuredfrom the current position as its center. The above predetermined area isassumed to have been set with an appropriate value according topositioning accuracy of the GPS. The facility candidate search unit 103Bretrieves, from the facility information 12 b, information such as anaverage stay time regarding the searched facility, and then notifies themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105B of the facilitycandidate information 13 b indicating the retrieved results.

In summary, the facility candidate search unit 103B chooses a candidatefor a user's visited facility using the GPS positioning, and outputs theresults as the facility candidate information 13 b.

The clock unit 109 times a current time (date and time including day,month, and year) and notifies it to the stay determination unit 201.

The stay determination unit 201, based on the current position notifiedby the current position determination unit 101 and the current timenotified by the clock unit 109, determines whether or not thevisited-place identification apparatus has been staying within apredetermined area for more than a predetermined time period, in otherwords, whether or not the user has started staying in the predeterminedarea for more than the predetermined time period. If the determinationis made that the stay has started, the stay determination unit 201notifies a start time (start date and time) of the stay to the stay timecalculation unit 202. The stay determination unit 201 further determineswhether or not the visited-place identification apparatus has moved outfrom the predetermined area, in other words, whether or not the user hasfinished staying at the facility. If the determination is made that theuser has finished staying, the stay determination unit 201 notifies anending time (ending date and time) of the stay to the stay timecalculation unit 202.

Note that the above predetermined time period is assumed to have beenset with an appropriate value according to an average stay timeregarding each facility, or set with the same value for every facility.

The stay time calculation unit 202 receives a notice indicating thestart time and the ending time of the stay from the stay determinationunit 201, and calculates stay time of the user as stay time=[the stayending time]−[the stay start time]. Then the stay time calculation unit202 notifies the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Bof the calculated stay time and the stay start time.

When a plurality of facilities are chosen as candidates in the facilitycandidate information 13 b notified by the facility candidate searchunit 103B, the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105B,from these facilities, selects a facility corresponding to the stay timecalculated by the stay time calculation unit 202 and the stay starttime, and determines the selected facility as a visited facility whichthe user has been actually visited. In summary, the most-likely visitedfacility identification unit 105B, from the facility candidatesindicated in the facility candidate information 13 b, identifies, as avisited facility, a facility corresponding to the user's stay time andthe stay start time.

The identified-facility accumulation unit 106B stores the visitedfacility identified in the most-likely visited facility identificationunit 105B into the historical data 16 b in time series, under thecontrol of the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105B.

FIG. 7 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility information 12b stored in the facility database 102B.

The facility information 12 b includes: a position field D1 that storesa position indicated by longitude and latitude, or the like; anidentifier field D2 that stores an identifier of facility that islocated at the position; a facility name field D3 that stores a name offacility (facility name); a morning stay time field D4 that storesuser's average stay time at a facility in the morning (for example, from5:00 until 11:00); an afternoon stay time field D5 that stores user'saverage stay time at a facility in the afternoon (for example, from11:00 until 17:00); and a night stay time field D6 that stores user'saverage stay time at a facility at night (for example, from 17:00 until5:00).

Note that the above identifier is assigned to each facility in order touniquely identify the facility. Also note that the above average staytime refers to an average of time for which general users have spent ateach facility.

For example, the position field D1 stores positions “LAT:1 N/LNG:1 E”,“LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”, and the like, the identifier field D2 stores anidentifier “Facility 2” associated with the position “LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”,and the facility name field D3 stores a facility name “Legalo'sRestaurante” associated with the identifier “Facility 2”. Further, themorning stay time field D4 stores “30 min” as user's average stay timeat the facility “Legalo's Restaurante” in the morning, the afternoonstay time field D5 stores “45 min” as user's average stay time at thefacility “Legalo's Restaurante” in the afternoon, and the night staytime field D6 stores “90 min” as user's average stay time at thefacility “Legalo's Restaurante” at night.

Note that when a plurality of facilities (shops) are located at the samepremise, their identifiers, names, and the like are associated with thesame position.

For example, when facilities “Noodle Stand” and “Park” are on the samepremise at a position “LAT:4 N/LNG:4 E”, their identifiers, facilitynames and average stay time regarding these facilities are associatedwith the position “LAT:4 N/LNG:4 E” as shown in the facility information12 b in FIG. 7.

Furthermore, when a facility does not provide service because it isclosed during its closing hours or other reasons, informationrepresenting that average stay time is not identified (for example, adash “-” shown in FIG. 7) is stored, in association with a time periodduring which the service is not provided, into the stay time field inthe facility information 12 b.

While the facility information 12 b shown in FIG. 7 has been describedto store the average stay time per a user for the time periods of a daydivided into morning, afternoon and night, but it should be appreciatedthat, based on customer data of each facility, the facility information12 b may store the average stay time for more segmented time periods(early morning, morning, afternoon, evening, night, midnight, and thelike) or for each day of a week. Moreover, instead of averaging the staytime in order to indicate the information of stay time, it should beappreciated that it is also possible to indicate the information bydispersing as well as averaging the stay time to learn their statisticaldistribution, or by using a membership function of fuzzy logic.

FIG. 8 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility candidateinformation 13 b which is notified to the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105B by the facility candidate search unit 103B.

The facility candidate information 13 b includes: an identifier field E1that stores an identifier of the facility searched by the facilitycandidate search unit 103B; a facility name field E2 that stores afacility name of the facility; a morning stay time field E3 that storesuser's average stay time at the facility in the morning; an afternoonstay time field E4 that stores user's average stay time at the facilityin the afternoon; and a night stay time field E5 that stores user'saverage stay time at the facility at night.

For example, when the facility candidate search unit 103B searches thefacility information 12 b shown in FIG. 7 for facilities that arelocated within a circle with radius 20 m measured from a currentposition determined by the current position determination unit 101including positions “LAT:1 N/LNG:1 E” and “LAT:4 N/LNG:4 E”, thefacility candidate search unit 103B retrieves information regardingfacilities “Cutt Salon”, “Noodle Stand”, and “Park” from the facilityinformation 12 a. The facility candidate search unit 103B then createsthe facility candidate information 13 b shown in FIG. 8 by storing theretrieved facility information as follows: the identifiers into theidentifier field E1; the facility names into the facility name field E2;the average morning stay time into the morning stay time field E3; theaverage evening stay time into the evening stay time field E4; and theaverage night stay time into the night stay time field E5.

FIG. 9 is a diagram that depicts details of the historical data 16 bstored in the identified-facility accumulation unit 106B.

The historical data 16 b includes: a date/time field F1 that stores astay start time (date and time) when the user has started staying at afacility; a stay time field F2 that stores stay time of the stay; and anidentifier field F3 that stores an identifier of the facility where theuser has stayed.

For example, the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Bobtains the facility candidate information 13 b shown in FIG. 8 from thefacility candidate search unit 103B, then receives a notice indicatingthat the user has been staying at the facility candidate for stay time“60 min” since a date and time “Apr. 6, 2003, 10:05”, from the stay timecalculation unit 202, and determines, based on the date and time, thatthe user stayed at the facility in the morning. Then the most-likelyvisited facility identification unit 105B searches the facilities “CuttSalon”, “Noodle Stand” and “Park” shown in the facility candidateinformation 13 b for a facility whose average stay time in the morningis included in a predetermined range of time period calculated using thestay time “60 min”, and identifies a facility “Cutt Salon” as a visitedfacility. Note that the above predetermined time period is, for example,±10% from stay time, which is “between 54 minutes and 66 minutes” inthis case.

Also note that when the most-likely visited facility identification unit105B identifies a plurality of facilities whose respective average staytime are included in a predetermined range of time period calculatedusing the stay time, the most-likely visited facility identificationunit 105B determines, as a visited facility, the most matching facilitywhose average stay time is the closest to the stay time.

After identifying the visited facility, the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105B adds a date and time “Apr. 6, 2003, 10:05” tothe date/time field F1 in the historical data 16 b, and further adds thestay time “60 min” to the stay time field F2 in association with thedate and time, and stores an identifier “Facility 1” of the identifiedfacility “Cutt Salon” into the identifier field F3 in association withthe stay time as well as the date and time. This means that themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105B records theinformation regarding the identified visited facility in time seriesinto the historical data 16 b.

If the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105B determinesthat there is no such a facility whose average stay time is included ina predetermined range of time period calculated using the stay timeafter making a search the facilities indicated in the facility candidateinformation 13 b, then stores a predetermined identifier representingthat no visited facility is identified (for example, “Facility 0”) intothe identifier field F3 of the historical data 16 b.

As described in the second embodiment, a facility corresponding to thestay time as well as the date and time regarding the user's stay isidentified as a visited facility from several facilities chosen ascandidates using the GPS, so that it is possible to identify a user'svisited facility with high accuracy. Furthermore, the second embodimentenables to accurately learn user's behavior patterns using thehistorical data 16 b, because identified visited facilities have beenrecorded as a history in the historical data 16 b.

The following describes steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the second embodiment withreference to FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart that depicts the steps performed in thevisited-place identification apparatus according to the secondembodiment.

Firstly, the visited-place identification apparatus receives positioninformation from the GPS satellites at predetermined time intervals, anddetermines a user's current position based on the position information(Step S201).

Next, the visited-place identification apparatus extracts as visitedfacility candidates, from the facility information 12 b in the facilitydatabase 102B, facilities that are located within a predetermined areameasured from the current position identified at Step S201 as its center(Step S202).

At this stage, the visited-place identification apparatus determineswhether or not the user has started staying (Step S203). If thedetermination is made that the user has started staying (Y at StepS203), then the visited-place identification apparatus furthercalculates the stay time (Step S204). For example, if a start time andan ending time of the stay are {10:05, 11:05} respectively, then thestay time is calculated as 60 (min)=11:05-10:05. On the other hand, ifthe determination is made that the user has not started staying (N atstep S203), then the visited-place identification apparatus repeats thesteps from Step S201.

After calculating the stay time at Step S204, the visited-placeidentification apparatus compares average stay time corresponding to thestay start time of the visited facility candidates searched at Step S202and the calculated stay time, and determines whether or not there is,from those visited facility candidates, a facility whose average staytime is included in a predetermined range of time period calculatedusing the stay time (Step S205).

For example, in the case where the predetermined range is set as ±10%from the stay time, a predetermined range calculated using the stay time“60 min” is between 54 minutes and 66 minutes. In such a case, when thestay start time is 12:30 in the afternoon, the visited-placeidentification apparatus determines, from the visited facilitycandidates in the facility candidate information 13 b shown in FIG. 8, afacility “Cutt Salon” as a facility whose average stay time is includedin the predetermined range of time period calculated using the staytime.

At Step 205, if the determination is made that there is a facility whoseaverage stay time is included in a predetermined range of time periodcalculated using the stay time (Y at Step S205), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus identifies the facility as a user's visitedfacility, and stores an identifier of the facility in association withthe stay start time and the stay time (Step S206). For example, in theabove case, the visited-place identification apparatus stores anidentifier “facility 1” of the facility “Cutt Salon”. When thevisited-place identification apparatus determines that there are aplurality of such facilities, it identifies a facility whose averagestay time is the closest to the stay time, as a visited facility, andstores an identifier of the facility.

On the other hand, if the determination is made that there is nofacility whose stay time is included in a predetermined range of timeperiod calculated using the stay time at Step S205 (N at Step S205),then the visited-place identification apparatus stores a predeterminedidentifier, for example “Facility 0”, representing that no visitedfacility is identified, in association with the stay start time and thestay time (Step S207).

Third Embodiment

The following describes the third embodiment according to the presentinvention with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the third embodiment of thepresent invention.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the thirdembodiment identifies a user's visited facility with high accuracy andaccumulates a history of such identified visited facilities. Thevisited-place identification apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit107, a current position determination unit 101, a facility database102C, a facility candidate search unit 103C, an electronic money unit108, a payment amount calculation unit 104, a most-likely visitedfacility identification unit 105C, a clock unit 109, anidentified-facility accumulation unit 106A, a facility category searchunit 302, and a facility payment amount storage unit 301. Thevisited-place identification apparatus according to the third embodimentis, in the same manner as described in the first embodiment, embedded inportable terminals, such as a portable telephone, a Personal DigitalAssistant (PDA) and the like, and carried by the user.

In the third embodiment, the same components are designated by the samereference numerals in the first and second embodiments, and theirstructures and functions are the same as described above.

The facility database 102C stores beforehand facility information 12 cthat indicates a position, a category, and the like for each facility.

The facility candidate search unit 103C searches, based on the currentposition determined by the current position determination unit 101, thefacility information 12 c stored in the facility database 102C forfacilities that are located within a predetermined area measured fromthe current position as its center. The above predetermined area isassumed to have been set with an appropriate value according topositioning accuracy of the GPS. The facility candidate search unit 103Cretrieves, from the facility information 12 c, information such ascategories to which the searched facilities belong, and notifies themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105C of the facilitycandidate information 13 c indicating the retrieved results.

In summary, the facility candidate search unit 103C chooses candidatesfor a user's visited facility using the GPS positioning, and outputs theresults as the facility candidate information 13 c.

The clock unit 109 times a current time (date and time including day,month, and year) and notifies it to the facility category search unit302 and the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C.

The facility payment amount storage unit 301 stores category paymentamount information 31 c that indicates an average payment amount of theuser for each facility category.

The facility category search unit 302 searches facility categoriesindicated in the category payment amount information 31 c of thefacility payment amount storage unit 301 for a category corresponding tothe payment amount calculated by the payment amount calculation unit 104and also corresponding to a payment date and time based on the currenttime notified by the clock unit 109, and notifies the most-likelyvisited facility identification unit 105C of the corresponding categoryand the payment amount.

The most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C selects, fromthe facilities indicated in the facility candidate information 13 cnotified by the facility candidate search unit 103C, a facilitycorresponding to the category searched by the facility category searchunit 302, and determines the facility as a facility where the user hasactually visited. In summary, the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105C, from the facility candidates indicated in thefacility candidate information 13 c, identifies, as a visited facility,a facility corresponding to the payment amount as well as payment dayand time of the user.

The identified-facility accumulation unit 106A stores in time series, asthe historical data 16 a, the facility (visited facility) identified bythe most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C, under thecontrol of the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C.

FIG. 12 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility information 12c stored in the facility database 102C.

The facility information 12 c includes: a position field G1 that storesa position indicated by longitude and latitude, or the like; anidentifier field G2 that stores an identifier of a facility that islocated at the position; a facility name field G3 that stores a name ofthe facility (facility name); and a category field G4 that stores acategory to which the facility belongs.

Note that the identifier is assigned to each facility in order touniquely identify the facility. Also note that the average paymentamount refers to an average of money amounts that general users havespent at each facility (so-called an average sales per customer).

For example, the position field G1 stores positions “LAT:1 N/LNG:1 E”,“LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”, and the like, the identifier field G2 stores anidentifier “Facility 2” associated with the position “LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”,and the facility name field G3 stores a facility name “Legalo'sRestaurante” associated with the identifier “Facility 2”. Furthermore,the category field G4 stores a category “restaurant” to which thefacility “Legalo's Restaurante” belongs. Note that, in the same manneras described for the facility information 12 a in the first embodiment,when a building accommodates a plurality of facilities (shops), theidentifiers, names and the like of these facilities are associated withthe same position.

FIG. 13 is a diagram that depicts details of the category payment amountinformation 31 c stored in the facility payment amount storage unit 301.

The category payment amount information 31 c includes: a category fieldH1 that stores a category to which a facility belongs; a morning paymentamount field H2 that stores a user's average payment amount in themorning regarding the category (for example, from 5:00 until 11:00); anafternoon payment amount field H3 that stores a user's average paymentamount in the afternoon regarding the category (for example, from 11:00until 17:00); and a night payment amount field H4 that stores a user'saverage payment amount at night regarding the category (for example,from 17:00 until 5:00).

For example, the category payment amount information 31 c shown in FIG.13 stores: a category “fast food” into the category field H1; an averagepayment amount in the morning “400 yen” into the morning payment amountfield H2 in association with the category; an average payment amount inthe afternoon “800 yen” into the afternoon payment amount field H3 inassociation with the category; and information representing that noaverage payment amount at night is identified because the facility isclosed during its closing hours or other reasons (for example, a dash“-” shown in FIG. 13) into the afternoon payment amount field H4.

While the category payment amount information 31 c shown in FIG. 13 hasbeen described to store the average payment amounts per a user for thetime periods of a day divided into morning, afternoon and night, but itshould be appreciated that, based on sales data of each facility, thecategory payment amount information 31 c may store the amounts forfurther segmented time periods (early morning, morning, afternoon,evening, night, midnight, and the like) or for each day of a week.Moreover, instead of averaging the payment amounts in order to indicatethe payment amount information, it should be appreciated that it is alsopossible to indicate the information by setting maximum and minimumpayment amounts, by dispersing as well as averaging the payment amountsto learn their statistical distribution, or by using a membershipfunction of fuzzy logic.

For example, when the payment amount calculation unit 104 calculates“820 yen” as a payment amount, and the facility category search unit 302determines that the payment date and time is the afternoon based on thecurrent time notified by the clock unit 109, the facility categorysearch unit 302 searches the categories shown in the category paymentamount information 31 c shown in FIG. 13 for a category whose averagepayment amount in the afternoon is included in a predetermined range ofamount calculated using the payment amount “820 yen”. As a result, thefacility category search unit 302 finds a category “fast food”, andnotifies the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C ofthe category “fast food”. Note that the above predetermined range is,for example, ±20% from the payment amount, which is “between 656 and 984yen” in this case. When the facility category search unit 302 finds aplurality of categories whose average payment amounts are included in apredetermined range of amount calculated using the payment amount, itselects from these categories the most matching category whose averagepayment amount is the closest to the payment amount of the user. If thefacility category search unit 302 determines that there is no such acategory whose average payment amount is included in a predeterminedrange of amount calculated using the payment amount after making asearch from categories indicating in the category payment amountinformation 31 c, then notifies the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105C that no such a category is found.

FIG. 14 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility candidateinformation 13 c which is notified to the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105C by the facility candidate search unit 103C.

The facility candidate information 13 c includes: an identifier field 11that stores an identifier of a facility searched by the facilitycandidate search unit 103C; a facility name field 12 that stores afacility name of the facility; and a category field 13 that stores acategory of the facility.

For example, the facility candidate search unit 103C searches, based onthe current position determined by the current position determinationunit 101, the facility information 12 c shown in FIG. 12 for facilitiesthat are located within an area including positions “LAT:2 N/LNG:2 E”and “LAT:3 N/LNG:3 E”, and retrieves information regarding facilities“Legalo's Restaurante”, “Bos Berger”, “Citi Cinema”, and “ConveniP-Mart”from the facility information 12 c. The facility candidate search unit103C then creates the facility candidate information 13 c shown in FIG.14 by storing the retrieved information as follows: facility identifiersinto the identifier field 11; facility names into the facility namefield 12; and categories into the category field 13.

When the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C isnotified of a category “fast food” by the facility category search unit302, obtains the facility candidate information 13 c shown in FIG. 14,further learns that a date and time of the payment is “Apr. 6, 2003,7:00” based on a current time notified by the clock unit 109, themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105C searchesfacilities “Legalo's Restaurante”, “Bos Berger”, “Citi Cinema”, and“ConveniP-Mart” shown in the facility candidate information 13 c for afacility belonging to a category “a fast food”, and identifies thefacility “Bos Berger” as a visited facility. After identifying thevisited facility, the most-likely visited facility identification unit105C stores a payment date and time “Apr. 6, 2003, 7:00”, the paymentamount “820 yen”, and an identifier “Facility 3” of the identifiedfacility ““Bos BergerBt” into the historical data 16 a in associationwith one another. If the most-likely visited facility identificationunit 105C determines that there is no such a facility that belongs tothe category notified by the facility category search unit 302 from thefacilities indicated in the facility candidate information 13 c, or ifthe most-likely visited facility identification unit 105C receives anotice indicating that no such a category is found from the facilitycategory search unit 302, then the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105C stores a predetermined identifier representingthat no visited facility is identified (for example, “Facility 0”) intothe identifier field C3 of the historical data 16 a.

As described in the third embodiment, the facility corresponding to themoney amount and the date and time of the user's payment is identifiedas the visited facility from several facilities chosen as a candidateusing the GPS so that it is possible to identify a user's visited placewith high accuracy. Further, the third embodiment enables to accuratelylearn user's behavior patterns using the historical data 16 a, becauseidentified visited facilities have been stored as a history in thehistorical data 16 a.

Still further, in the third embodiment, the facility information 12 cstores categories, not average payment amounts or stay time, so that itis possible to reduce the amount of information stored in the facilityinformation 12 c more than that stored in the facility information 12 aand 12 b in the first and second embodiments respectively in order toeffectively use the storage space of the facility database 102C. It isalso possible in the third embodiment to build the facility information12 c easily.

The following describes steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the third embodiment withreference to FIG. 15.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart that depicts the steps performed in thevisited-place identification apparatus according to the thirdembodiment.

Firstly, the visited-place identification apparatus receives positioninformation from the GPS satellites at predetermined time intervals, anddetermines a user's current position based on the position information(Step S301).

Next, the visited-place identification apparatus extracts as visitedfacility candidates, from the facility information 12 c in the facilitydatabase 102C, facilities that are located within a predetermined areameasured from the current position determined at Step S301 as its center(Step S302).

At this stage, the visited-place identification apparatus determineswhether or not a remaining amount of money has been updated (Step S303).If the determination is made that the remaining amount of money has beenupdated (Y at Step S303), then the visited-place identificationapparatus further determines, based on the update, whether or not theuser has made a payment (Step S304). On the other hand, if thedetermination is made that the remaining amount of money has not beenupdated (N at Step S303), then the visited-place identificationapparatus repeats the steps from Step S301.

If the determination is made that the user has made a payment at StepS304 (Y at Step S304), then the visited-place identification apparatuscalculates a money amount of the user's payment (Step S305). Forexample, when remaining amounts before and after the payment are {3000,2180} respectively, a payment amount is calculated as 820 yen=3000-2180.On the other hand, if the determination is made that the user has notmade any payment at Step S304 (N at Step S304), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus repeats the steps from Step S301.

After calculating the payment amount at Step S305, the visited-placeidentification apparatus compares average payment amounts correspondingto the payment date and time indicated in the category payment amountinformation 31 c and the calculated payment amount, and determineswhether or not there is, from those categories in the category paymentamount information 31 c, a category whose average payment amount isincluded in a predetermined range of amount calculated using the paymentamount (Step S306).

If the determination is made that there is a category whose averagepayment amount is included in a predetermined range of amount calculatedusing the payment amount (Y at Step S306), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus finds, from the extracted facilities at Step302, a facility belonging to the category whose average payment amountis included in a predetermined range of amount calculated using thepayment amount, then identifies the facility as a visited facility, andstores an identifier of the facility in association with the paymentamount as well as the payment date and time (Step S307).

On the other hand, if the determination is made that there is nocategory whose average payment amount is included in a predeterminedrange of amount calculated using the payment amount at Step S306 (N atStep S306), then the visited-place identification apparatus stores apredetermined identifier, for example “Facility 0”, representing that novisited facility is identified, in association with the payment date andtime as well as the payment amount (Step S308).

Fourth Embodiment

The following describes the fourth embodiment according to the presentinvention with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the fourthembodiment identifies a user's visited facility with high accuracy andaccumulates a history of such identified visited facilities. Thevisited-place identification apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit107, a current position determination unit 101, a facility database102C, a facility candidate search unit 103C, a stay determination unit201, a stay time calculation unit 202, a facility category search unit402, a facility stay time storage unit 401, a most-likely visitedfacility identification unit 105D, a clock unit 109, and anidentified-facility accumulation unit 106B. Note that the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fourth embodiment is, in thesame manner as described in the second embodiment, embedded in portableterminals, such as a portable telephone, a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA) and the like, and on mobile terminals using a vehicular navigationsystem, and carried by the user.

In the fourth embodiment, the same components are designated by the samereference numerals in the first to third embodiments, and theirstructures and functions are the same as described above.

The facility candidate search unit 103C, in the same manner as describedin the third embodiment, searches the facility information 12 c forfacilities that are located within a predetermined area measured fromthe current position determined by the current position determinationunit 101 as its center. The facility candidate search unit 103Cretrieves, from the facility information 12 c, information such as acategory to which the searched facility belongs, and notifies themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105D of facilitycandidate information 13 d indicating the retrieved results.

The stay time calculation unit 202 receives a notice indicating a starttime and an ending time of the stay from the stay determination unit201, and calculates stay time of the user as the stay time=[the stayending time]-[the stay start time]. Then the stay time calculation unit202 notifies the facility category search unit 402 of the calculatedstay time and the stay start time (date and time).

The facility stay time storage unit 401 stores category stay information41 d that indicates average stay time of the user at a facility for eachcategory.

The facility category search unit 402 searches categories indicated inthe category stay information 41 d of the facility stay time storageunit 401 for a category corresponding to the stay time calculated by thestay time calculation unit 202 and the stay start time, and notifies themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105D of thecorresponding category, and the stay time and the stay start time.

The most-likely visited facility identification unit 105D selects, fromthose facilities indicated in the facility candidate information 13 dnotified by the facility candidate search unit 103C, a facilitybelonging to the category searched by the facility category search unit402, and identifies the selected facility as a facility where the userhas actually visited. In summary, the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105D identifies as a visited facility, from thefacility candidates indicated in the facility candidate information 13d, a facility corresponding to the stay time and the stay start time ofthe user.

The identified-facility accumulation unit 106B stores in time series, ashistorical data 16 b, the visited facility identified by the most-likelyvisited facility identification unit 105D, under the control of themost-likely visited facility identification unit 105D.

FIG. 17 is a diagram that depicts details of category stay information41 d stored in the facility stay time storage unit 401.

The category stay information 41 d includes: a category field J1 thatstores a category to which a facility belongs; a morning stay time fieldJ2 that stores user's average stay time in the morning regarding acategory (for example, from 5:00 until 11:00); an afternoon stay timefield 33 that stores user's average stay time in the afternoon regardinga category (for example, from 11:00 until 17:00); and a night stay timefield J4 that stores user's average stay time at night regarding acategory (for example, from 17:00 until 5:00).

For example, the category stay information 41 d shown in FIG. 17 stores:a category “barbershop/beauty salon” into the category field J1; averagestay time in the morning “60 min” into the morning stay time field J2 inassociation with the category; average stay time in the afternoon “60min” into the afternoon stay time field J3 in association with thecategory; and information representing that average payment amount atnight is not identified because it is closed during its closing hours orother reasons (for example, a dash “-” shown in FIG. 17) into the nightstay time field J4.

While the example shown in FIG. 17 has been described to store theaverage stay time per a user for the time periods of a day divided intomorning, afternoon and night, but it is also possible, based on customerdata of each facility, to store the average stay time for furthersegmented time periods (early morning, morning, afternoon, evening,night, midnight, and the like) or for each day of a week. Moreover,instead of averaging the stay time in order to indicate the informationof the stay time, it should be appreciated that it is also possible toindicate the information by dispersing as well as averaging the staytime to learn their statistical distribution, or by using a membershipfunction of fuzzy logic.

For example, when the facility category search unit 402 receives anotice indicating that stay time is “60 min” and a stay start time is“10:5” from the stay time calculation unit 202, the facility categorysearch unit 402 determines that the user stayed at a facility belongingto the category in the morning, and searches the categories indicated inthe category stay information 41 d shown in FIG. 17, a category whoseaverage stay time in the morning is included in a predetermined range oftime period calculated using the stay time “60 minutes”, finds acategory “barbershop/beauty salon”, and notifies the category“barbershop/beauty salon” to the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105D. Note that the above predetermined range is,for example, ±10% from the stay time, which is “between 54 minutes and66 minutes” in this case. When the facility category search unit 402identifies a plurality of categories whose average stay time areincluded in a predetermined range of time period calculated using thestay time, the facility category search unit 402 identifies from thesecategories the most matching category whose average stay time is theclosest to the stay time. If the facility category search unit 402determines that there is no such a category whose average stay time isincluded in a predetermined range of time period calculated using thestay time after searching the categories indicating in the category stayinformation 41 d, then notifies the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105D that the no such a category is found.

FIG. 18 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility candidateinformation 13 d which is notified to the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105D by the facility candidate search unit 103C.

The facility candidate information 13 d includes, in the same manner asdescribed for the facility candidate information 13 c in the thirdembodiment: an identifier field K1 that stores identifiers of thefacilities searched in the facility candidate search unit 103C; afacility name field K2 that stores facility names of the respectivefacilities; and a category field K3 that stores categories to which thefacilities belongs.

For example, when the facility candidate search unit 103C searches,based on a current position determined by the current positiondetermination unit 101, the facility information 12 c shown in FIG. 12for facilities that are located within an area including positions“LAT:1 N/LNG:1 E” and “LAT:4 N/LNG:4 E”, the facility candidate searchunit 103 retrieves information of facilities “Cutt Salon”, “NoodleStand” and “Park” from the facility information 12 c. The facilitycandidate search unit 103C then creates the facility candidateinformation 13 d shown in FIG. 18 by storing the retrieved informationas follows: the identifiers of the facilities into the identifier fieldK1; the facility names into the facility name field K2; and thecategories into the category field K3.

Then, the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105D receivesa notice of a category “barbershop/beauty salon” from the facilitycategory search unit 402, obtains the facility candidate information 13d shown in FIG. 18, then retrieves the facility whose category is“barbershop/beauty salon” from the facilities “Cutt Salon”, “NoodleStand”, and “Park” indicated in the facility candidate information 13 d,and identifies the facility “Cutt Salon” as a visited facility. Afteridentifying the visited facility, the most-likely visited facilityidentification unit 105D stores the stay start time “Apr. 6, 2003,7:00”, the stay time “60 min”, and the identifier “Facility 1” of theidentified facility “Cutt Salon” notified by the facility categorysearch unit 402 into the historical data 106 b in association with oneanother. If the most-likely visited facility identification unit 105Ddetermines that no such a facility category notified by the facilitycategory search unit 302 is found from the facilities indicated in thefacility candidate information 13 d, or if it receives a noticeindicating that no such a facility is found in the facility categorysearch unit 402, then it stores a predetermined identifier representingthat no visited facility is identified (for example, “Facility 0”) intothe identifier field F3 of the historical data 16 b.

As described in the fourth embodiment, the facility corresponding to theuser's stay time and date and time of the stay is identifies as thevisited facility from several facilities chosen as a candidate using theGPS so that it is possible to identify a user's visited place with highaccuracy. Furthermore, the fourth embodiment enables to accurately learnuser's behavior patterns using the historical data 16 b, becauseidentified visited facilities have been stored as a history in thehistorical data 16 b.

Still further, in the fourth embodiment, in the same manner as describedin the third embodiment, the facility information 12 c storescategories, not average payment amounts or stay time, so that it ispossible to reduce the amount of information stored in the facilityinformation 12 c more than that stored in the facility information 12 aand 12 b in the first and second embodiments respectively in order toeffectively use the storage space of the facility database 102C. It isalso possible in the fourth embodiment to build the facility information12 c easily.

The following describes steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fourth embodiment withreference to FIG. 19.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart that depicts the steps performed in thevisited-place identification apparatus according to the fourthembodiment.

Firstly, the visited-place identification apparatus receives positioninformation from the GPS satellites at predetermined time intervals, anddetermines a user's current position based on the position information(Step S401).

Next, the visited-place identification apparatus extracts as visitedfacility candidates, from the facility information 12 c in the facilitydatabase 102C, facilities that are located within a predetermined areameasured from the current position determined at Step S401 as its center(Step S402).

At this stage, the visited-place identification apparatus determineswhether or not the user has started staying (Step S403). If thedetermination is made that the user has started staying (Y at StepS403), then the visited-place identification apparatus furthercalculates the stay time (Step S404). For example, if a start time andan ending time of the stay are {10:05, 11:05} respectively, then thestay time is calculated as 60 (min)=11:05-10:05. On the other hand, ifthe determination is made that the user has not started staying (N atstep S403), then the visited-place identification apparatus repeats thesteps from Step S401.

After calculating the stay time at Step S404, the visited-placeidentification apparatus compares average stay time corresponding to thestay start time indicated in the category stay information 41 d and thecalculated stay time, and determines whether or not there is, from thosecategories in the category stay information 41 d, a category whoseaverage stay time is included in a predetermined range of time periodcalculated using the stay time (Step S405).

At Step 405, if the determination is made that there is a category whoseaverage stay time is included in a predetermined range of time periodcalculated using the stay time (Y at Step S405), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus identifies from the facilities extracted atStep S402 the facility as a user's visited facility, and stores anidentifier of the facility in association with the stay start time andthe stay time (Step S406).

On the other hand, if the determination is made that there is nofacility whose stay time is included in a predetermined range of timeperiod calculated using the stay time at Step S405 (N at Step S405),then the visited-place identification apparatus stores a predeterminedidentifier, for example “Facility 0”, representing that no visitedfacility is identified, in association with the stay start time and thestay time (Step S407).

Fifth Embodiment

The first and third embodiments identify the most-likely visitedfacility using the user's payment amounts, while the second and fourthembodiments identify the most-likely visited facility using the user'sstay time.

The following fifth embodiment identifies the most-likely visitedfacility using user's travel distance or travel direction.

More specifically, the visited-place identification apparatus accordingto the fifth embodiment includes: some components that are embedded on aportable terminal such as a portable telephone or a PDA; and the othercomponents that have a GPS function in a vehicular navigation systemequipped in a vehicle. This visited-place identification apparatusdetects a travel distance and a travel direction of the portableterminal carried by the user, and utilizes the detected results andposition results determined by the GPS function of vehicular navigationsystem. This means that when the user carries the portable terminal andget out of the vehicle, this visited-place identification apparatusidentifies the user's most-likely visited facility based on a positionof the vehicle, and a travel distance and a travel direction of the userfrom the position.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fifth embodiment of thepresent invention.

The visited-place identification apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit2101, a current position determination unit 2102, a facility informationaccumulation unit 2104, a facility candidate search unit 2105, a traveldistance detection unit 2106, a vehicle park determination unit 2103, afacility identification unit 2107, and an identified-facilityaccumulation unit 2108.

The GPS receiving unit 2101 receives position information regarding acurrent position from the GPS satellites.

The current position determination unit 2102 obtains the positioninformation from the GPS receiving unit 2101, and determines, based onthe position information, a vehicle's current position.

The GPS receiving unit 2101 and the current position determination unit2102 are embedded in the vehicular navigation system equipped with thevehicle.

The vehicle park determination unit 2103 accumulates the currentpositions determined by the current position determination unit 2102 asa history so that the vehicle park determination unit 2103 determineswhether or not the vehicle has been parked, and also determines aposition where the vehicle has been parked (a parked position). Forexample, based on changes in the vehicle's current positions within apredetermined time period, it is possible to determine whether or notthe vehicle has been parked. The vehicle park determination unit 2103,however, does not determine that the vehicle has been parked when thevehicle stops to wait at the red light in traffic. The vehicle parkdetermination unit 2103 may determine that the vehicle has been parked,when the user place a vehicle gear in the “Park” position. Moreover, thevehicle park determination unit 2103 may also determine that the vehiclehas been parked, when the user shuts off a vehicle engine.

The facility information accumulation unit 2104 accumulates the facilityinformation 2104 a that is information regarding each facility.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing a positional relationship among facilities.

Referring to FIG. 21, for example, there are some facilities (Shops A toH) in the vicinity of a public parking lot where the vehicle is to beparked.

FIG. 22 is a diagram that depicts details of facility information 2104a.

The facility information 2104 a indicates a name and a location(latitude, longitude) of each facility shown in FIG. 21.

The facility candidate search unit 2105 searches facilities indicated inthe facility information 2104 a of the facility information accumulationunit 2104, as candidates for a user's visited place, for facilities thatare located in the vicinity of the parked position determined by thevehicle park determination unit 2103. For example, the facilitycandidate search unit 2105 searches the facility information 2104 a forfacilities that are located within a circle with 1 km radius measuredfrom the parked position as its center, and notifies the facilityidentification unit 2107 of the facility candidate information 2105 aindicating the names and the locations of these facilities.

The travel distance detection unit 2106 begins to measure a user'stravel distance when the vehicle park determination unit 2103 detectsthat the vehicle has been parked. More specifically, the travel distancedetection unit 2106 includes 3D gyro so that it can measure the traveldistance which the user travels carrying the portable terminal. Also,the travel distance detection unit 2106 may include a pedometer or thelike so that it can measure the user's travel distance by countinguser's steps.

The facility identification unit 2107 identifies a user's most-likelyvisited facility from the facility candidates searched by the facilitycandidate search unit 2105, based on the travel distance detected by thetravel distance detection unit 2106. The travel distance detection unit2106 enables to detect the user's travel distance after the vehicle hasbeen parked. When the user lefts the vehicle and visits a shop, adistance that the user travels to the shop and returns to the vehicle isdetected as a travel distance. The facility identification unit 2107calculates a distance D that is a half of the detected travel distance,and identifies, as a most-likely visited facility, a facility that islocated within a circle with radius D measured from the vehicle's parkedposition as its center. In this case, if the user visits, among thefacilities that are located within the circle with radius D measuredfrom the vehicle's parked position, a facility that is the nearest tothe vehicle's parked position, the detected travel distance is too long.Therefore, the facility identification unit 2107 identifies, as amost-likely visited facility, a facility that is located within thecircle with radius D measured from the vehicle's parked position as itscenter, and that is the farthest from the vehicle's parked position.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of methods foridentifying a most-likely visited facility by the facilityidentification unit 2107.

Referring to FIG. 23, for example, when a vehicle's parked position isdetermined and the radius D is calculated as 200 m, Shop A that islocated within a circle with radius 200 m measured from the vehicle'sparked position is identified as a most-likely visited facility. Whenthe radius D is calculated as 300 m, Shops D and G are identified as themost-likely visited facilities. In this case, Shop A is not identifiedas the visited facility. Note that when there are a plurality offacilities that are located within a circle with radius D measured fromthe parked position and that are also located around the farthestpositions from the parked position, the facility identification unit2107 may notify the user of these shops so that the user can select oneof them as the visited facility.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example ofmethods for identifying a most-likely visited facility by the facilityidentification unit 2107.

Referring to FIG. 24, even when a vehicle's parked position is differentfrom that shown in FIG. 23, the facility identification unit 2107identifies a most-likely visited facility based on a user's traveldistance measured from the parked position.

FIG. 25 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a further example ofmethods for identifying a most-likely visited facility by the facilityidentification unit 2107.

Referring to FIG. 25, the facility identification unit 2107 may identifya most-likely visited facility based on a user's travel distancemeasured from a gate for pedestrians in the parking lot. In this case,the current position determination unit 2102 determines, using map dataor the like, the gate for pedestrians in the parking lot as a currentposition, and notifies the determined results to the facilityidentification unit 2107.

The identified-facility accumulation unit 2108 accumulates the visitedfacilities identified by the facility identification unit 2107 as thehistorical data.

While the fifth embodiment has described that the identified visitedfacilities are accumulated as a history, the identified visitedfacilities do not necessarily have to be accumulated as a history. Forexample, in the case where a most-likely visited facility is identified,it is possible to improve advertising effectiveness regarding thevisited facility by providing the user with information regarding thevisited facility as advertisement information, when the user returns tothe vehicle and starts driving.

Note that when a plurality of shops are identified as most-likelyvisited facilities, a history recording that the user has visited one ofthose shops may be accumulated in the identified-facility accumulationunit 2108. In this case, when a user' behavior is presumed and a user'sprofile is created based on the history accumulated in theidentified-facility accumulation unit 2108, it is necessary to considerimportant that the plurality of facilities which have not beenidentified as the most-likely visited facility are uncertain elements inthe history.

The following describes steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fifth embodiment withreference to FIG. 26.

FIG. 26 is a flowchart that depicts steps performed in the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the fifth embodiment.

Firstly, the visited-place identification apparatus obtains positioninformation using the GPS and determines a vehicle's current position(Step S2201), and then determines whether or not the user has parked thevehicle, based on time-series changes of the current positions (StepS2202).

If the determination is made that the vehicle is not parked (N at StepS2202), then the visited-place identification apparatus repeats StepS2201. If the determination is made that the vehicle has been parked (Yat Step S2202), then the visited-place identification apparatus storesthe current position as a vehicle's parked position (Step S2203).

Next, when the user carries a portable terminal and gets out of thevehicle, the visited-place identification apparatus begins to measure auser's travel distance (Step S2204). If the determination is made thatthe vehicle starts moving (Y at Step S2205), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus identifies a most-likely visited facility basedon the vehicle's parked position and the user's travel distance (StepS2206). On the other hand, if the determination is made that the vehicleis still parked (N at Step S2205), then the visited-place identificationapparatus repeats Step S2204.

The above steps enable to identify a user's most-likely visited facilitybased on the vehicle's parked position and the user's travel distance.

As described above, the fifth embodiment includes: a behavior detectionunit that detects the user's travel behavior measured from the positiondetermined by the position determination unit; and a most-likelyfacility identification unit that selects, from a plurality offacilities, a facility corresponding to the travel behavior detected bythe behavior detection unit if the plurality of facilities are specifiedby the candidate specification unit, and identifies the selectedfacility as a most-likely visited place. Furthermore, in the fifthembodiment, the behavior detection unit detects a travel distance as thetravel behavior of the user, and the most-likely facility identificationunit identifies a facility corresponding to the travel distance as themost-likely visited place.

Accordingly, the fifth embodiment enables to identify the facilitycorresponding to the user's travel distance as the most-likely visitedplace so that it is possible to identify a user's visited place withhigh accuracy. Especially when a user's visit destination is far from aposition determined by the position determination unit (for example, avehicle's parked position), it is possible to identify with highaccuracy where the user has visited.

(First Variation)

The fifth embodiment identifies the most-likely visited facility basedon the user's travel distance measured by the travel distance detectionunit 2106 that includes the pedometer, the 3D gyro, or the like.

The following describes the first variation in which the visited-placeidentification apparatus includes, instead of the travel distancedetection unit 2106, a travel direction detection unit, such as anelectronic compass, that automatically detects a user's travel directionand identifies the most-likely visited facility based on a vehicle'sparked position and the user's travel direction.

FIG. 27 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example foridentifying a visited facility based on the user's travel direction.

Referring to FIG. 27, directions from the vehicle's parked position toShops A to H are determined by the facility information 2104 a shown inFIG. 22. When the travel direction detection unit detects a user'stravel direction a, the facility identification unit 2107 identifiesShop B or Shop G as user's most-likely visited facilities.

Note that the visited-place identification apparatus may identify thevisited facility based on a user's travel distance and a traveldirection.

As described above, the first variation includes: the behavior detectionunit that detects a travel direction as the user's travel behavior; andthe most-likely facility identification unit that identifies a facilitycorresponding to the travel direction as a most-likely visited place.Accordingly, the first variation enables to identify a facilitycorresponding to the user's travel direction as the most-likely visitedplace so that it is possible to identify with high accuracy a user'svisited place.

(Second Variation)

The following describes the second variation in which the visited-placeidentification apparatus identifies the most-likely visited facilitybased on a path of a user's travel.

When the user drives a vehicle and then parks it, the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the second variation determines avehicle's parked position based on position information received by theGPS receiving unit 2101, and derives a path of travel starting from theparked position based on the detected results of the travel distance andtravel direction of the user. The visited-place identification apparatusidentifies a most-likely visited facility based on the path of travel.The travel distance detection unit 2106 according to the secondvariation detects the travel distance of a portable terminal, using the3D gyro, the electronic compass, or the like, and derives the path ofuser's travel.

FIG. 28 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example foridentifying a visited facility based on the path of travel.

Referring to FIG. 28, when the user has parked a vehicle and then visitsShop B and A carrying a portable terminal, the visited-placeidentification apparatus derives a path of user's travel based on thepath of travel and the facility information 2104 a, and determines thatShop B and A are most-likely visited facilities.

Note that the visited-place identification apparatus according to thesecond variation may notify the user of a message indicating that theuser should return to a parking lot.

In this case, the facility information accumulation unit 2104 in thevisited-place identification apparatus accumulates estimated timerequired to get to the public parking lot from each shop.

FIG. 29 is a diagram that depicts details of information of the requiredtime.

Referring to FIG. 29, the required time information 2104 b storesestimated time required to get to the public parking lot from each shop.

The facility identification unit 2107 in the visited-placeidentification apparatus obtains parking information that indicates astart time of parking (parking start time), an ending time of parking(parking ending time), and the like, from an apparatus equipped in theparking lot. For example, if the vehicle is parked from the parkingstart time up to the parking ending time, a parking fee is free, whilethe parking fee is charged if the vehicle is still parked after theparking ending time.

More specifically, when the facility identification unit 2107 in thevisited-place identification apparatus identifies a visiting place basedon the path of travel, the facility identification unit 2107 determineswhether or not the user should return to the parking lot at a currenttime, based on required time to return from the visited facilityindicated in the required time information 2104 b, a current time, and aparking ending time.

FIG. 30 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a timingwhen the visited-place identification apparatus notifies the user of amessage.

Referring to FIG. 30, when the facility identification unit 2107 in thevisited-place identification apparatus determines that an user's visitedplace is Shop A, the facility identification unit 2107 adds estimatedtime required to get to the parking lot from Shop A (10 minutes)indicated in the required time information 2104 b to a current time (Forexample, 15:20), and calculates an arrival schedule time (15:30) forarriving at the parking lot if the user starts returning to the parkinglot at the current time. Then the facility identification unit 2107compares the arrival schedule time with the parking ending time, and ifthe arrival schedule time matches or is near to the parking ending time,then the facility identification unit 2107 notifies the user of amessage indicating that the user should return to the parking lot or theuser should pay a parking fee. Furthermore, it is understood from therequired time information 2104 b shown in FIG. 29 that the facilityidentification unit 2107 notifies such a message earlier to the user whois visiting Shops C, E, or the like.

(Third Variation)

The fifth embodiment, and the first and second variations identify theuser's most-likely visited facility, based on the travel distance, thetravel direction, and the path of the user's travel after the vehiclehas been parked.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the thirdvariation provides the user with advertisement information regarding anidentified visited facility when the user returns to the vehicle andstarts its engine. This enables to provide the user with suitableadvertisements.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the third variation.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the thirdvariation includes a facility information selection unit 2608 and aninformation display unit 2609 in addition to the components included inthe visited-place identification apparatus shown in FIG. 20. Thefacility information 2104 c accumulated in the facility informationaccumulation unit 2104 according to the third variation includesinformation regarding an advertisement (advertisement information) inaddition to the name and the position of a facility to be provided tothe user who has visited the facility.

After the facility identification unit 2107 identifies a visitedfacility, the facility information selection unit 2608 searches thefacility information 2104 c in the facility information accumulationunit 2104 for advertisement information corresponding to the visitedfacility. If the corresponding advertisement information is found, thenthe facility information selection unit 2608 extracts the advertisementinformation from the facility information 2104 c, and outputs it to theinformation display unit 2609.

The information display unit 2609 includes a liquid-crystal display orthe like that is embedded in a vehicular navigation system in a vehicleor on a portable terminal, and shows the user details of theadvertisement information obtained by the facility information selectionunit 2608.

FIG. 32 is a diagram that depicts an example of details of theadvertisement information displayed by the information display unit2609.

For example, when the facility identification unit 2107 identifies ABMart as a visited facility, the information display unit 2609 providesthe user with details of the advertisement information regarding AB Martas shown in FIG. 32.

As described above, in the third variation, the visited-placeidentification apparatus includes: an information providing unit thatobtains advertisement information regarding a facility identified by amost-likely facility identification unit and that provides the user withthe obtained advertisement information. Accordingly, in the thirdvariation, it is possible to provide the user with the advertisementinformation identified by the most-likely facility identification unitso that the user can browse advertisement information regarding afacility to which the user is interested. Moreover, this enables toimprove effect of the advertisement of the facility, becauseadvertisement of the shop which the user has visited is provided evenafter the user has left the shop so that the user gets familiar with theshop, resulting in increase of a possibility of user's future visits atthe facility.

(Fourth Variation)

The fifth embodiment identifies the vehicle's parked position using theposition information received by the GPS receiving unit 2101, andsearches the vehicle's parked position for the facility candidates thatthe user can visit.

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the fourthvariation obtains parking lot position information that indicates aposition of a parking lot, from an apparatus equipped in a gate of theparking lot via a wireless communication medium, and uses the parkinglot position indicated in the parking lot position information as thevehicle's parked position.

More specifically, the vehicle park determination unit 2103 according tothe fourth variation merely obtains the parking lot position informationand uses the position indicated in the parking lot position informationinstead of the vehicle's parked position, without determining thevehicle's parked position based on the position information received bythe GPS receiving unit 2101. Note that when a vehicle engine is stoppedafter the parking lot position information is obtained, the vehicle parkdetermination unit 2103 determines that the vehicle has been parked.

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating how the vehicle park determinationunit 2103 according to the fourth variation obtains the parking lotposition information.

More specifically, when the vehicle passes through a gate of the parkinglot or when the gate opens and then closes, the vehicle parkdetermination unit 2103 obtains the parking lot position informationfrom a transmitter X1 equipped in the gate, and uses a position of theparking lot indicated in the parking lot position information as avehicle's parked position. The facility candidate search unit 2105searches facilities indicated in the facility information 2104 a in thefacility information accumulation unit 2104 for facilities that arelocated in the vicinity of the vehicle's parked position (the positionof the parking lot) as candidates for a user's visited place.

The visited-place identification apparatus may obtain, from thetransmitter X1 equipped in the gate, vicinity facility informationregarding the facilities that are located in the vicinity of the parkinglot in addition to the parking lot position information. The vicinityfacility information includes, for example, names, locations andadvertisements of the facilities that are located in the vicinity of theparking lot. In this case, the facility candidate search unit 2105merely obtains the vicinity facility information, and outputs thevicinity facility information as the facility candidate information 2105a to the facility identification unit 2107.

(Fifth Variation)

The following describes the visited-place identification apparatusaccording to the fifth variation that enables to set proper parking feesin a parking lot.

In general, some public parking lots make contracts with certain shops.For example, some public parking lots make contracts with certain shopsto provide the user with free of parking fee, if the user has visitedsuch shops or if the user has paid a predetermined amount of money forpurchase at the shops. Therefore, when the visited-place identificationapparatus according to the fifth variation identifies such a contractedshop as a visited facility, it sets that a parking fee is not necessary.On the contrary, when the visited-place identification apparatusidentifies a shop without such a contract as a visited facility, it setsthat the parking fee is charged. The parking fee set as above isnotified to a management system for managing the parking lot, and themanagement system opens a gate to let the vehicle pass through if theparking fee is paid. The determination is made whether or not the userhas paid a predetermined amount of money for purchase at the shop, basedon, for example, the payment amount calculated by the payment amountcalculation unit 104 in the third embodiment, or based on a change inuser's belongings identified in the sixth embodiment as described hereinlater. Furthermore, in the fifth variation, when the user has not paid apredetermined amount of money for purchase at the shop, the user may benotified of that.

Still further, the visited-place identification apparatus according tothe fifth variation may set the parking fee according to a traveldistance measured from the vehicle's parked position.

In such a case, however, the user would try to leave a portable terminal(an apparatus for measuring the travel distance) in the vehicle andvisits a facility without it in order to reduce the parking fee bypreventing the apparatus from accurately measuring the travel distance.Therefore, the management system of the parking lot opens a gate forpedestrians only when the system detects the portable terminal, and doesnot open the gate when the system does not detect the portable terminal.

FIG. 34 is an explanatory diagram illustrating the gate that opens andthen closes, depending on an existence of the portable terminal.

Referring to FIG. 34, when the user approaches the gate for pedestrianscarrying a portable terminal M1, the management system detects theportable terminal M1 and opens the gate. On the other hand, when theuser has left the portable terminal M1 in the vehicle and approaches thegate to get out of the parking lot, the management system does notdetect the portable terminal M1 and keeps the gate closed. Note that acomponent, such as the travel distance detection unit 2106 in thevisited-place identification apparatus, is embedded in the portableterminal M1.

In the circumstances, the user are expected to visit facilities alwayscarrying the portable terminal M1, which enables to prevent theapparatus from being set with any fraudulent fee.

Furthermore, the visited-place identification apparatus according to thefifth variation may set the parking fee according to an identifiedvisited facility, which enables to set the parking fee properlyaccording to the visited facility, although the parking fee hasconventionally been set according to time spent parking. Especially,this enables to distinguish the users parking vehicles for the longtime, separating some who stay for visiting beauty salons, specialschools for their hobbies, and the like, from the others who stay forother purposes without visiting any facility.

Furthermore, the visited-place identification apparatus according to thefifth variation may set the parking fee according to whether or not theuser has visited any one of facilities that are located in the vicinityof the parking lot.

Some parking lots near railway stations provide free of parking fee forthe user, for example, if the user has parked a vehicle for less thantwo hours. Such a parking lot sets the above parking fee system asservice for the users who use facilities in the vicinity of the railwaystation. However, if the parking lot sets the parking fee according onlyto time spent parking, the parking fee to be charged becomes free evenfor a user who has parked a vehicle in the parking lot, but travels by arailway, uses facilities in a vicinity of another station, and returnsto the parking lot within two hours, without using the facilities in thevicinity of that station.

Therefore, the visited-place identification apparatus according to thefifth variation determines, based on the path of the user's travel afterparking of the vehicle, whether or not the user has visited any one ofgrouped facilities that are located in the vicinity of the parking lotand that make contracts with the parking lot to reduce or remit theuser's parking fee. If the determination is made that the user hasvisited one of the grouped facilities, then the visited-placeidentification apparatus sets the parking fee reduced or remitted. Onthe other hand, if the determination is made that the user has notvisited any of the grouped facilities, then the visited-placeidentification apparatus sets the parking fee normally without reducingor remitting it.

This enables the management system near the railway station to reduce orremit parking fees only for users who have parked vehicles for visitingfacilities in the vicinity of the station, and to charge proper fees tousers who have parked vehicles for other purposes.

Note that, in this case, the visited-place identification apparatusneeds to determine only which of the facility groups in the vicinity ofthe station the user has visited, and not necessarily to identify avisited facility. Therefore, this enables to simplify the structure ofthe visited-place identification apparatus.

As described above, the visited-place identification apparatus accordingto the fifth variation includes: a fee calculation unit that calculatesa parking fee according to the user's behavior detected by the behaviordetection unit, when a position determined by the position determinationunit is a parking lot. For example, the behavior detection unit detectsthe path of user's travel starting from the position determined by theposition determination unit, and the fee calculation unit calculates theparking fee according to the path of user's travel detected by thebehavior detection unit. Accordingly, the fifth variation enables tocalculate the parking fee according to the user's behavior, which is thepath of travel, which enables to charge the user a proper parking fee.

Meanwhile, it is possible to have a parking fee calculation system,separating from the visited-place identification apparatus. The parkingfee calculation system includes: a vehicle park position determinationunit that determines a vehicle's parked position; a behavior detectionunit that detects a behavior of the user who uses the vehicle; and a feecalculation unit that calculates a parking fee, based on the behaviorstarting from the vehicle's parked position detected by the behaviordetection unit, when the vehicle's parked position determined by thevehicle park position determination unit is a parking lot. For example,the vehicle park position determination unit is equipped with thevehicle, and the behavior detection unit and the fee calculation unitare embedded in the portable terminal. The parking fee calculated by thefee calculation unit is notified to the management system of the parkinglot, and set in the management system.

Accordingly, the parking fee calculation system can calculate a properparking fee suitable to the user's behavior regardless of time spentparking of the vehicle.

Sixth Embodiment

The fifth embodiment identifies the user's most-likely visited place byreceiving the absolute position information using the GPS for thevehicle, and by detecting the relative travel distance using theportable terminal carried by the user, such as the 3D gyro or thepedometer.

The following describes the sixth embodiment in which a visited place isidentified based on information accessed from a portable terminal suchas a portable telephone.

More specifically, the visited-place identification apparatus accordingto the sixth embodiment is embedded in the portable terminal, such as aportable telephone or a PDA, that has a communication function, andidentifies the user's most-likely visited place by utilizing details ofthe information accessed by the communication function and a positiondetermined by the GPS.

FIG. 35 is a block diagram that depicts a structure of the visited-placeidentification apparatus according to the sixth embodiment.

The visited-place identification apparatus includes a GPS receiving unit2701, a current position determination unit 2702, a facility informationaccumulation unit 2704, a facility candidate search unit 2705, aninformation obtainment history detection unit 2706, a positionobtainment condition determination unit 2703, a facility identificationunit 2707, and an identified-facility accumulation unit 2708.

The GPS receiving unit 2701 receives position information regarding acurrent position from the GPS satellites.

The current position determination unit 2702 obtains the positioninformation from the GPS receiving unit 2701, and determines, based onthe position information, a current position of the visited-placeidentification apparatus, which is a user's current position.

The GPS receiving unit 2701 and the current position determination unit2702 are embedded in a portable terminal together with other components.

The position obtainment condition determination unit 2703 determineswhether or not the position information has been received by the GPS.This means that if the GPS receiving unit 2701 has not received theposition information, consequently the current position determinationunit 2702 cannot determine the current position. Therefore, the positionobtainment condition determination unit 2703 determines whether or notthe current position determination unit 2702 has determined a vehicle'scurrent position based on the position information. If the currentposition determination unit 2702 has determined the vehicle's currentposition, in other words, if the position information can be received,then the position obtainment condition determination unit 2703 notifiesthe facility candidate search unit 2705 of the determined currentposition. If the current position determination unit 2702 has notdetermined the vehicle's current position, in other words, if theposition information cannot be received, then the position obtainmentcondition determination unit 2703 notifies the facility candidate searchunit 2705 of a current position that was determined last time (hereafterreferred to as “latest current position”). If the position informationcannot be received, then the position obtainment condition determinationunit 2703 notifies the information obtainment history detection unit2706 that the position information cannot be received.

FIG. 36 is an explanatory diagram illustrating how the GPS receivingunit 2701 fails to receive the position information.

Referring to FIG. 36, for example, when the user carrying the portableterminal is out of doors, the GPS receiving unit 2701 receives theposition information. As a result, the current position determinationunit 2702 determines a user's current position based on the receivedposition information.

However, when the user is in a building such as a multi-tenant buildingor in an underground shopping center, the GPS receiving unit 2701 cannotreceive the position information. As a result, the current positiondetermination unit 2702 cannot determine a user's current position. Forexample, the multi-tenant building accommodates a plurality offacilities, such as a restaurant and a movie theater, so that it isimpossible to identify a user's visited facility. Therefore, the sixthembodiment uses information that the user has accessed via the Internetfrom the portable terminal and the like.

The facility information accumulation unit 2704 accumulates facilityinformation 2704 a that is information regarding each facility.

FIG. 37 is a diagram that depicts details of the facility information2704 a.

The facility information 2704 a indicates a name, a location (longitude,latitude), a key word, and a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of eachfacility.

When the facility candidate search unit 2705 receives the notice of thecurrent position from the position obtainment condition determinationunit 2703, the facility candidate search unit 2705 searches facilitiesindicated in the facility information 2104 a of the facility informationaccumulation unit 2704 for a facility that is located at the currentposition or is located the nearest to the current position as acandidate for a user's visited place.

When the facility candidate search unit 2705 receives the notice of thelate current position from the position obtainment conditiondetermination unit 2703, the facility candidate search unit 2705searches facilities indicated in the facility information 2704 a of thefacility information accumulation unit 2704 for facilities that arelocated in the vicinity of the late current position as candidates for auser's visited place.

The facility candidate search unit 2705 extracts information (a name, anURL, and the like of the facility) regarding the facility correspondingto the searched results from the facility information 2704 a, createsthe facility candidate information 2705 a, and notifies the facilityidentification unit 2707 of the facility candidate information 2705 a.When the facility candidate information 2705 a is notified, the facilitycandidate search unit 2705 notifies the facility identification unit2707 whether the facility candidate information 2705 a has been createdbased on the current position or based on the latest current position.

When the information obtainment history detection unit 2706 receivesfrom the position obtainment condition determination unit 2703 thenotice indicating that the position information cannot be received, itthen obtains information (access information) accessed by thecommunication function of the portable terminal, and accumulates theaccess information. For example, as shown in FIG. 36, when the userenters the multi-tenant building, it becomes impossible to receive theposition information. Therefore, the information obtainment historydetection unit 2706 obtains access information that is accessed afterthe user enters the building, and accumulates such access information.

The facility identification unit 2707 identifies a user's most-likelyvisited facility from the facility candidate searched by the facilitycandidate search unit 2705. More specifically, when the facilityidentification unit 2707 obtains the facility candidate information 2705a created using the current position, it determines that the facilityindicated in the facility candidate information 2705 a is the user'smost-likely visited facility.

On the other hand, when the facility identification unit 2707 obtainsthe facility candidate information 2705 a created using the latestcurrent position, it obtains the access information accumulated in theinformation obtainment history detection unit 2706. Then, the facilityidentification unit 2707 searches the facilities indicated in thefacility candidate information 2705 a for a facility relating to theaccess information, and identifies the facility corresponding to thesearched results as the user's most-likely visited facility.

For example, after the user enters the multi-tenant building and theposition information cannot be received, the user accesses menuinformation of a restaurant via the Internet by operating the portableterminal, and browses details of the menu information. In this case, thevisited-place identification apparatus uses the menu information as theaccess information, and searches the facilities in the multi-tenantbuilding for a facility relating to the menu information. Then, thevisited-place identification apparatus determines that a restaurantcorresponding to the searched results is the user's most-likely visitedfacility. When the user accesses music information, the visited-placeidentification apparatus determines that a CD shop is the user'smost-likely visited facility.

The identified-facility accumulation unit 2708 accumulates the visitedfacility identified by the facility identification unit 2707 ashistorical data.

As described above, the sixth embodiment enables to identify, as theuser's most-likely visited facility, a facility that is located at thecurrent position or is located the nearest to the current position whenthe current position can be determined by the GPS. Even if the currentposition cannot be determined by the GPS, the sixth embodiment enablesto identify the user's most-likely visited facility based on the accessinformation and the current position that was determined last time.

The following describes steps performed in the sixth embodiment withreference to FIG. 38.

FIG. 38 is a flowchart that depicts the steps performed in thevisited-place identification apparatus according to the sixthembodiment.

Firstly, the visited-place identification apparatus receives positioninformation using the GPS, and determines a user's current position(Step S2800).

Next, the visited-place identification apparatus determines whether ornot it is impossible to obtain the position information (Step S2802). Ifthe determination is made that it is impossible to obtain the positioninformation (Impossible at Step S2802), then the visited-placeidentification apparatus searches for a facility candidate based on acurrent position that was determined last time (latest currentposition), which is the current position determined at Step 2800 (StepS2804).

Note that when the visited-place identification apparatus detects auser's access to access information via the Internet from the portableterminal (Step S2806), it searches the facility candidates searched atStep S2804 for a facility relating to the access information, andidentifies the facility corresponding to the searched results as auser's most-likely visited facility (Step S2808).

On the other hand, If the determination is made that it is possible toobtain the position information at Step S2802 (Possible at Step S2802),then the visited-place identification apparatus receives the positioninformation, and determines a current position in the same manner asStep S2800 (Step S2810). Then, the visited-place identificationapparatus identifies a visited facility based on the current positiondetermined at Step S2810 (Step S2812).

Above steps enable to identify a user's visited place based on thelatest current position and the access information even if the positioninformation cannot be obtained.

In summary, the sixth embodiment includes: a behavior detection unitthat detects browse information browsed by the user; and a most-likelyfacility identification unit that selects from a plurality of facilitiesa facility relating to the browse information detected by the behaviordetection unit, and that identifies the selected facility as amost-likely visiting place, when the plurality of facilities arespecified by the candidate specification unit. Accordingly, the sixthembodiment enables to identify the facility relating to the browseinformation in which the user is interested as a visiting place so thatit is possible to identify with high accuracy a user's most-likelyvisited place, especially when the user is in a building or in anunderground shopping center.

While the sixth embodiment has described that the visited facility isidentified using the accumulation of the user's access information, itshould be appreciated that it can also be identified using accumulationof changes in user's surrounding temperatures or noises. For example,when the user's surrounding temperature decreases, the visited-placeidentification apparatus determines that the user's visiting place is afacility where the temperature is adjusted by an air conditioner, orwhen the user's surrounding noise is large, the visited-placeidentification apparatus determines that the user's visiting place is agame center or the like.

Furthermore, the sixth embodiment enables to identify a visited place inthe same manner as described above, when the user has parked a vehiclein a parking lot in a multi-tenant building.

Moreover, the sixth embodiment also enables to identify a visited placeusing changes in user's belongings.

FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating the visited-place identificationapparatus and the user's belongings.

Referring to FIG. 39, for example, an IC tag (a RF ID tag) 1 is assignedto each personal belonging of the user, such as a wallet and a commuterpass. The visited-place identification apparatus includes a tag readerfor communicating with the IC tag 1, and is embedded in a portabletelephone 2.

Such a visited-place identification apparatus can identify a change inthe user's belongings based on communication of the tag reader with theIC tag 1.

FIG. 40 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in the user'sbelongings.

Referring to FIG. 40, for example, while the position information can bereceived, the visited-place identification apparatus identifies awallet, a commuter pass, a music player and a house key as the user'sbelongings based on communication results of the tag reader with the tag1. When the position information cannot be obtained, the visited-placeidentification apparatus detects, based on the communication results ofthe tag reader with the IC tag 1, that a music CD is added to the user'sbelongings. As a result, the visited-place identification apparatusdetermined that the user's visited place is a CD shop because the addedbelonging is the music CD.

The above example includes: a behavior detection unit that detects abelonging which is added to or deleted from personal belongings carriedby the user; and a most-likely facility identification unit that selectsfrom a plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the belongingdetected by the behavior detection unit, and that identifies theselected facility as a most-likely visiting place, when the candidatespecification unit specifies the plurality of facilities. Accordingly,the above example enables to identify the most-likely visiting placebased on the user's belongings so that it is possible to identify withhigh accuracy a user's visited place, especially where the user makessome purchases.

While the visited-place identification apparatus according to thepresent invention has been described in the first to sixth embodimentsand the variations, it should be understood that the present inventionis not limited only to the description as herein disclosed.

For example, while the first and third embodiments have described thatthe visited-place identification apparatus includes the electronic moneyunit 108 and the payment amount calculation unit 104 that detect thepayment behavior of the user, and the second and fourth embodiments havedescribed that the visited-place identification apparatus includes thestay determination unit 201 and the stay time calculation unit 202 thatdetects the stay behavior of the user, but it should be appreciated thatthe visited-place identification apparatus may include the electronicmoney unit 108, the payment amount calculation unit 104, the staydetermination unit 201, and the stay time calculation unit 202 thatdetect both payment behavior and stay behavior of the user. In thiscase, the visited-place identification apparatus selects a facilitycorresponding to the payment behavior and the stay behavior of the userfrom the facilities indicated in the facility candidate information, andidentifies the facility as a visited facility so that it is possible toidentify with high accuracy the visited facility.

This means that the detection of the payment behavior is useful when thevisited-place identification apparatus determines a facility such as akiosk in a railway station and a convenience store where the userusually stays relatively for a short time, while the detection of thestay behavior is useful when the apparatus determines a facility such asa park and a public facility where the user does not make a payment.Therefore, it is possible to improve the accuracy of the identificationof the visited facility by detecting and using both payment behavior andstay behavior to overcome their disadvantages each other.

Furthermore, the first to fourth embodiments may include a unit thatdetects whether the user is in or out of doors to identify a visitedfacility based on the behavior. For example, the unit obtains weatherinformation indicating the weather and determines the weather. If it isfine, then the unit determines that the user is probably out of doors;while if it is rainy, the unit determines that the user is probably indoors. Then, in the case where a movie theater and a park are specifiedas candidates for a visited facility, if the user is determined to be indoors, the movie theater is identified as the visited facility.Furthermore, the facility information has been described to store theaverage payment amounts or the average stay time for the time periods ofa day divided into morning, afternoon and night, but it should beappreciated that the facility information may store them according tothe weather divided into rainy, cloudy, and fine.

Furthermore, while the first to sixth embodiments have been described toinclude the facility database or the facility information accumulationunit, it should be appreciated that they may not include the facilitydatabase nor the facility information accumulation unit, but thefacility candidate search unit may access an external server via anetwork and search for a facility from facility information stored inthe server. Furthermore, in the first to sixth embodiments, the facilitydatabase or the facility information accumulation unit stores beforehandthe facility information, but it is also possible to download thefacility information from the external server via a network, and storethe facility information into the facility database or the facilityinformation accumulation unit.

Furthermore, while the third embodiment has been described to includethe facility payment amount storage unit 301, and the fourth embodimenthas been described to include the facility stay time storage unit 401,but it should be appreciated that, in the same manner as described abovefor the facility database, the visited-facility identification apparatusmay not include the facility payment amount storage unit 301 nor thefacility stay time storage unit 401, but may download the categorypayment amount information 31 c and the category stay information 41 dfrom the external server. Needless to say, the above-mentioned serverthat the visited-facility identification apparatus can access via anetwork may be added in the components of the visited-facilityidentification apparatus according to the first to sixth embodiments inorder to utilize the server.

Furthermore, while the first to sixth embodiments have described todetermine the current position based on the position informationobtained from the GPS satellites received by the GPS receiving unit 107,it should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited onlyto the above but may determine the current position using a RF tag,measurement by a wireless base station, or the like.

Furthermore, while the first and third embodiments have described thatthe electronic money unit 103 has the function serving as the prepaidcard, it should be appreciated that the electronic money unit 103 maynot have such a function, but may have a function for learning aremaining amount of money that was deposited beforehand. Furthermore, itis possible to have a unit, instead of the electronic money unit 103 andthe payment amount calculation unit 104, for electronically obtaining apayment statement of a credit card, a debit card, or the like and forcalculating a user's payment amount using the payment statement. In thiscase, the payment statement is delivered not upon the user's payment butat a later date so that the facility candidate search unit stores thesearched results, and identifies a visited facility from facilitiesstored in the facility candidate search unit when the payment statementis delivered. Note that the payment statement does not includeinformation for uniquely identifying a facility where the user has madea payment so that the visited-place identification apparatus accordingto the present invention identifies a visited facility, based on thepayment behavior indicated in the payment statement and the positioningresult by the GPS.

Furthermore, the electronic money unit 103 may have a function servingas a credit card. In this case, the electronic money unit 103 learns aremaining amount of money in a bank account which the user openedbeforehand. Then the payment amount paid by the electronic money unit103 of the user is withdrawn from the user's bank account in order to bedeposited in a bank account of the facility owner.

Furthermore, while the first to fourth embodiments have been describedto use the facility information that stores the average payment amountsand the average stay time of the general users, it should be appreciatedthat the facility information may store the average payment amounts andthe average stay time of each user. For example, the facilityinformation stores the average payment amounts and the average stay timeof the general users at initialization, and the payment amountcalculation unit or the stay time calculation unit updates the storeddata according to a use of each user, which enables to identify withhigh accuracy the user's visited facility. Furthermore, the facilitydatabase may store facility information regarding the general users andfacility information regarding each user, which enables to improveusability of the user by using the facility information separately.

Furthermore, while the first to sixth embodiments have described thatwhen a visited facility is not identified, the identifier representingthat the visited facility is not identified is stored in the historicaldata, it is also possible to store identifiers of all facilitiesindicated as candidates in the facility candidate information 13 a or tostore the most matching facility in the historical data. The structureof details of the historical data may be updatable. In this case, evenif the user has made a payment or stayed at a facility, and the visitedfacility has not been identified, the historical data is updated with aidentifier of the visited facility when the facility is identifiedlater.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The visited-place identification apparatus according to the presentinvention is capable of identifying with high accuracy a user's visitedplace, and suited for use, for example, as a device embedded in aportable telephone, a vehicular navigation system, and the like whichanalyzes behavior patterns of the user and provides the user with aninformation providing service corresponding to the behavior patterns.

1. A visited-place identification apparatus for identifying a visited place of a user, comprising: a position determination unit operable to determine a position of the user; a candidate specification unit operable to specify, as a candidate for the visited place, a facility that is located within a predetermined area including the position determined by said position determination unit; a behavior detection unit operable to detect a behavior of the user; and a most-likely facility identification unit operable to identify a most-likely visited place by selecting from a plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the behavior detected by said behavior detection unit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by said candidate specification unit.
 2. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a storage unit having an area for storing the facility identified by said most-likely facility identification unit, wherein said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to cause said storage unit to store, as a history, information of the facility that is identified as the most-likely visited place.
 3. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect a payment amount that the user has paid at the facility, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to identify the most-likely visited place by selecting from the plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the payment amount detected by said behavior detection unit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by said candidate specification unit.
 4. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said candidate specification unit includes: a facility information storage unit operable to previously store identification information for identifying the plurality of facilities, facility position information indicating positions of the respective facilities, and payment amount information regarding the payment amounts that are paid at the respective facilities; and a candidate extraction unit operable to search the facilities whose information are stored in said facility information storage unit for the facility whose position indicated in the facility position information is within the predetermined area including the position determined by said position determination unit, and to extract the identification information and the payment amount information of the searched facility, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to select the identification information of the facility whose payment amount information corresponds to the payment amount detected by said behavior detection unit, when the identification information and the payment amount information regarding a plurality of facilities are extracted by said candidate extraction unit.
 5. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 3, wherein said candidate specification unit includes: a facility information storage unit operable to previously store identification information for identifying the plurality of facilities, facility position information indicating positions of the respective facilities, and categories of the respective facilities; and a candidate extraction unit operable to search the facilities whose information are stored in said facility information storage unit for the facility whose position indicated by the facility position information is within a predetermined area including the position determined by said position determination unit, and to extract the identification information and the category of the searched facility, and said most-likely facility identification unit includes: a category storage unit operable to previously store the categories of the plurality of facilities and category payment amount information regarding payment amounts that are paid at facilities belonging to the respective categories; a category extraction unit operable to extract, from the categories stored by said category storage unit, a category whose category payment amount information corresponds to the payment amount detected by said behavior detection unit; and a selection unit operable to select the identification information of a facility whose category corresponds to the category extracted by said category extraction unit, when the identification information and the categories of a plurality of facilities are extracted by said candidate extraction unit.
 6. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect stay time that is a time period the user spent at a facility, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to select, from the plurality of facilities, a facility corresponding to the stay time detected by said behavior detection unit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by said candidate specification unit.
 7. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said candidate specification unit includes: a facility information storage unit operable to previously store identification information for identifying the plurality of facilities, facility position information indicating positions of the respective facilities, and stay time information regarding stay time at the respective facilities; and a candidate extraction unit operable to search the facilities whose information are stored in said facility information storage unit for a facility whose position indicated in the facility position information is within a predetermined area including the position determined by said position determination unit, and to extract the identification information and the stay time information of the searched facility, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to select the identification information of a facility whose stay time information corresponds to the stay time detected by said behavior detection unit, when the identification information and the stay time information of a plurality of facilities are extracted by said candidate extraction unit.
 8. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said candidate specification unit includes: a facility information storage unit operable to previously store identification information for identifying the plurality of facilities, facility position information indicating positions of the respective facilities, and categories of the respective facilities; and a candidate extraction unit operable to search the facilities whose information are stored in said facility information storage unit for a facility whose position indicated in the facility position information is within a predetermined area including the position determined by said position determination unit, and to extract the identification information and the category of the searched facility, and said most-likely facility identification unit includes: a category storage unit operable to previously store the categories of the plurality of facilities and category stay information regarding stay time at facilities belonging to the respective categories; a category extraction unit operable to extract, from the categories stored by said category storage unit, a category whose category stay information corresponds to the stay time detected by said behavior detection unit; and a selection unit operable to select the identification information of a facility whose category corresponds to the category extracted by said category extraction unit, when the identification information and the categories of a plurality of facilities are extracted by said candidate extraction unit.
 9. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect a travel behavior of the user, the travel behavior starting from the position determined by said position determination unit, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to identify the most-likely visited place by selecting from the plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the travel behavior detected by said behavior detection unit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by said candidate specification unit.
 10. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect a travel distance as the travel behavior of the user, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to identify as the most-likely visited place a facility corresponding to the travel distance.
 11. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect a travel direction as the travel behavior of the user, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to identify as the most-likely visited place a facility corresponding to the travel direction.
 12. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect browse information that has been browsed by the user, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to identify the most-likely visited place by selecting from the plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the browse information detected by said behavior detection unit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by said candidate specification unit.
 13. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect a belonging that has been added to or deleted from personal belongings carried by the user, and said most-likely facility identification unit is operable to identify the most-likely visited place by selecting from the plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the belonging detected by said behavior detection unit, when the plurality of facilities are specified by said candidate specification unit.
 14. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fee calculation unit operable to calculate a parking fee based on the behavior of the user detected by said behavior detection unit, when the position determined by said position determination unit is a parking lot.
 15. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 14, wherein said behavior detection unit is operable to detect a path of the user's travel, the path starting from the position determined by said position determination unit, and said fee calculation unit is operable to calculate the parking fee based on the path of the user's travel detected by said behavior detection unit.
 16. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said position determination unit is operable to determine a position that a vehicle driven by the user has been parked, and said behavior detection unit is operable to detect the behavior of the user after the vehicle has been parked.
 17. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an information presentation unit operable to obtain advertisement information regarding the facility identified by said most-likely facility identification unit, and to present the advertisement information to the user.
 18. The visited-place identification apparatus according to claim 1 is embedded in a portable terminal, wherein said position determination unit is operable to determine a position of the portable terminal carried by the user, and said behavior detection unit is operable to detect the behavior of the user when it is impossible to determine the position by said position determination unit.
 19. A method for identifying a visited place of a user, comprising: determining a position of the user; specifying, as a candidate for the visited place, a facility that is located within a predetermined area including the position determined in said determining of the position; detecting a behavior of the user; and identifying a most-likely facility by selecting from a plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the behavior detected in said detecting, when the plurality of facilities are specified in said specifying of the candidate.
 20. A program for identifying a visited place of a user, said program causing a computer to execute: determining a position of the user; specifying, as a candidate for the visited place, a facility that is located within a predetermined area including the position determined in said determining of the position; detecting a behavior of the user; and identifying a most-likely facility by selecting from a plurality of facilities a facility corresponding to the behavior detected in said detecting, when the plurality of facilities are specified in said specifying of the candidate. 